
European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula strongly condemned the attacks on students and other young protesters in Serbia, expressing sadness over recent events.
“Protests need to be safe, and I see that there are significant issues with this in Serbia. It is crucial for democracy that citizens can express their political views without fear, to oppose government decisions, and to protest if certain decisions are not being made,” Picula said in an interview with N1.
The rapporteur emphasized that he expects Serbian authorities to clearly condemn what he called unacceptable aggressive behavior and violence by individuals, and expressed hope that the attackers will be punished.
“I am not sure how the political crisis in Serbia can be resolved, but in any case, the student protests have brought a new dynamic to the political scene in Serbia. My impression is that the government is failing to quell the student revolt, mainly due to their unusual and atypical actions. The authorities are trying to respond with standard mechanisms, as if dealing with a group that can be easily dispersed using force in various forms or through social or material compensation. It is clear that this obviously isn’t working,” Picula said on N1’s Newsnight show.
Addressing accusations against the protesters, Picula noted that students in Serbia, like their peers elsewhere, are indeed “agents” – but not in the way some suggest. “They are agents, but agents of change in every society, not agents of some foreign intelligence services, as I hear they are being labeled as such, which is absurd,” he said.
“As young people, they represent the future of their country, and it seems to me that the government’s attitude toward them says much more about its approach to the future than any party document,” Picula said, noting that the students’ main demand is simply for institutions to do their job.