Student Protest '96

December 19th, 1996

12:00 CET
(11:00 GMT)

Plato

Several tens of thousands of students gathered at Plato again today, on the 29th day of the student protest. Among the persons who addressed the gathered students today, were Pavle Aksentijevic, church chant, Borka Pavicevic, the professor at the School of Philosophy, Predrag Milinkovic, actor, Alexandra Jovicevic, professor at the School of Drama Arts, and the representatives of the students of Kragujevac. We were espetially honored by the presence of Goran Bregovic, world-famous composer and singer, writer of the scores for "Arizona Dream" and "La Reine Margot", who supported our cause.

Numerous letters of support were read, among them the one from the students of Maribor (Slovenia). We also heard the announcement that the teaching council of the School of Economy has decided to support the demands of the students.

13:00 CET
(12:00 GMT)

The "Walk"

At the head of the procession today were our guests, 23 students from Kragujevac, who came to Belgrade on foot, to support our protest. They carried the feast bread, and a bottle of Sljivovica, in order to give it as a present and a token of good will to the president, which is a custom practiced on St. Nicolas' Day. But, owing to the expiriance of their coleagues from Nis, they just left the present in front of the Presidency.

Today's route was very short, because it was dedicated to St. Nicholas, whose feast day, one of the most important religious holidays in the country, is being celebrated all across Serbia today, and the procession went by the buildings of RTS and TV Politika (TV networks controlled by the regime), as it was agreed with the guests from MTV who came to make a video-clip here.

The action of blocking the traffic for half an hour, by blocking three main bridges over Sava, was announced for tomorrow. The gathering at Plato is scheduled for the usual time (noon).

EDIE


Back to Streets index
Back to the Home Page