BU Rector Djokic expects more repression

“I not only expect further repression, I am certain it is coming,” he said adding that the authorities don’t know how to stop in a rush of panic.

According to Djokic, the announced Education Ministry takeover of university management is a declaration of war on academic autonomy. He said students responded to violence in their thousands refusing to back down. “They won’t break us because you can’t destroy the fact that knowledge is power and we have knowledge. We will resist in any way we know how and in a way that is appropriate for us with personal integrity and the unity we achieved,” he said.

Djokic recalled that President Vucic appeared live on TV at midnight after the latest student protests following the police raid on the Belgrade University Rectorate to comment his speech to students from his office balcony. “He said that speech was political. Of course it was political. When the police raids the university, every word becomes political. When a minister threatens students with coffins and another says the police has the right to beat and kill them, when pro-regime media launch a campaign against the university every public statement has to be political,” he said recalling the statements by ministers Darko Glisic and Boris Bratina.

He said that every step taken by the regime has shown that the university is its enemy adding that the public showed that defending the university is an act of patriotism. “I think that my stand indicated the possibility of a change in the political culture in Serbia from ultimately authoritarian and leader-based to truly democratic,” the BU Rector said.

Djokic said a possible position of prime minister or president will be set by students and confirmed by the public. “Serbia does not need another all-knowing authority. It needs experts, people with integrity who are determined to fight for rule of law and dignity for each one of us,” he said, commenting the possibility of his nomination for an official post.