Historian Milan St. Protic said that the Constitution of Sretenje was adopted to limit the absolute power of Prince Milos, but it was suspended because he did not want to agree to the limitation of his own power. And the gathering in Kragujevac taking place on Saturday, he stressed, shows that "for almost two centuries we have been tripping over the same stone." Pročitaj više

„Hats off to the students, but us seniors failed the exam,“ he said, referring to the students who organized the mass gathering in Kragujevac on the Statehood Day.

On February 15, Serbia celebrates Statehood Day, while the Serbian Orthodox Church also commemorates Candlemas (Sretenje) on the same date. The first constitution of the Principality of Serbia was enacted on February 15, 1835 in Kragujevac.

„Unfortunately, we are in a very similar situation today, we have a Constitution as it is, which clearly defines who is in charge of what, but it is not respected and we have a ruler who decides on everything even though there are limitations“, he told N1, adding that there is a mass protest of students going on for the past three months, but the government is indifferent and trivializes it.

„Let’s meet on Sretenje“ rally in Kragujevac: The spirit of unity and empathy

„Hats off to the students, but us seniors failed the exam“

„We don’t know what the outcome of all this will be, whether there will be results with the feeling of pride, but no matter how it ends, hats off to these young people,“ said Protic.

Unlike the protests of 1996 and 1997, according to him, this is a pure student protest and that is why it is so overwhelming and magnificent.

„And whether it will give a political result and whether the students are invited to achieve what we did not, seems unfair to me,“ he told N1.

He expected, he says, that the elders would protect them from the day one, if necessary.

„I thought it was the task of the opposition and all of us. It’s not the same if a car hits me or a 22, 23-year-old girl. We seniors failed the exam. Someone has to take responsibility or share it with young people, first and foremost the opposition,“ he added.