The group of the undersigned organizations gathered around the “Three Freedoms” platform demands from the authorities to immediately stop targeting students, high school students, professors and all citizens who, from November 2024, demand responsibility for the death of 15 people in Novi Sad. The continuous spreading of hatred against them resulted in the attempted murder of a 20-year-old female student, which happened when a driver ran into her just before the beginning of the blockade in Rooseveltova Street in Belgrade.
Weeks ago, we witnessed the violent behavior of certain drivers who passed through the gathered citizens at roadblocks, without any information about whether anyone was held accountable for it. Today we saw the most serious attack of this type that resulted in serious physical injuries to a girl. Although the driver was identified and detained soon after the event, this case is only the result of the campaign that representatives of the regime are conducting against male and female students. From the publication of their personal documents in media close to the regime, through public targeting and discrediting of the goals and motives of student protests and blockades by SNS officials, to physical attacks on male and female students, such as the attack that took place at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade when seven of them were slightly injured, the violence that young people are exposed to is unacceptable and the competent authorities must show zero tolerance towards it. The pro-regime media, which targets anyone who supports students and protests, is also responsible for spreading this atmosphere, as well as RTS, which in its news broadcasts presents male and female students as mercenaries, and the actors who support them as terrorists.
We request the authorities to stop the hate speech and persecution of male and female students and to fulfill their demands. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for the safety of the participants of the meeting and is obliged to take all measures for their protection. In order to avoid future similar attacks and the further deepening of hatred and divisions in society, the highest state officials must clearly condemn the violence that male and female students have suffered since the beginning of the blockades and stop being the ones who, with their rhetoric, incite violence, conflicts and intolerance among the citizens of Serbia.
Signatories:
- Građanske inicijative
- Belgrade Center for Human Rights
- Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation
- Initiative A 11
- Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
- Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights
- Youth Initiative for Human Rights
- Catalyst Balkans
- Partneri Srbija
- Autonomous Women’s Center
- Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia
- Belgrade Center for Security Policy
- Trag Foundation
- Jelena Šantić Foundation