January 16 - Serbian opposition holds new protest in Belgrade

 


Jan 16, 2024. Posted by  Balkan Periscope - Hellas

The Serbian opposition held a new protest on Tuesday evening in Belgrade, on the anniversary of the assassination of Kosovo Serb opposition leader Oliver Ivanovic.

The main reason for the protest is the unsolved murder of Ivanovic, who was gunned down on the morning of January 16, 2018, outside his party offices in Kosovska Mitrovica. The opposition is also protesting alleged fraud in the Serbian December 17, 2023 early elections.

The protesters assembled outside the Republic Election Commission (RIK) offices in central Belgrade and, following speeches by opposition representatives, they marched to the St. Mark’s Church where they lit candles for Oliver Ivanovic.

The crowd was addressed by Serbia Against Violence leader Marinika Tepic, who was on a hunger strike for 12 days following the elections. She thanked her colleagues, all those two supported her during her hunger strike, and the doctors who made it possible for her to continue her struggle.

“Today the entire planet knows that we caught the thief in the act of stealing. The one across the street, who does not dare face the citizens of his own country, but is peeping from behind the curtain,” said Tepic, pointing at the building housing the Serbian President’s office.

She said they received great news on Monday – that the European Parliament will hold a debate on the Serbian elections on Wednesday.

“This is what we were on a hunger strike for. We weren’t addressing the coward from across the street but Europe and the world,” said Tepic.

Movement of Free Citizens leader Pavle Grbovic said that the European Parliament is only a consultative body in European Union’s foreign policy, but that it has specific political weight.

“We have hope that decisive action will finally come from that side. We are glad that the conservative forces, which are close to (Serbian President) Aleksandar Vucic, were outvoted, even though, led by the shameful Vladimir Bilcik, they tried with all their might to prevent the debate from taking place. This is encouraging news, our battle on three fronts is slow, it requires a lot of patience, but it has effects,” said Grbovic, adding that the whole of Europe knows what happened in Serbia.

Democratic Party (DS) deputy leader Dragana Rakic said she expects MEPs to back all the citizens protesting in central Belgrade at the upcoming debate on election irregularities in Serbia.

“We are fighting to have the same electoral conditions as the citizens in the European Union member states,” Rakic told the Beta news agency at the protest outside the Republic Election Commission (RIK).

She added this means that elections in Serbia should be fair, the voting secret, that no one should be exposed to pressures or sanctions.

“I expect that the European MPs will truly stand behind all the values they fought for in their countries,” said Rakic, whose party is a member of the opposition Serbia Against Violence coalition.

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