Student Protest '96

November 28th, 1996

12:00 CET
(11:00 GMT)
The meeting at Plato began as planed. There were over 20,000 students. Goran Markovic, a film-director, addressed the students with these words: "Belgrade used to be the city with the most pleasant atmosphere and the most attractive girls in Europe. It should be like that again." Professor Dragoljub Micunovic said: "You are the citizens of this country. To be a citizen means to be able to speak freely, to walk freely and to vote. Your votes must be respected..."

Forty academicians wrote a proclamation in which SANU (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts) supports the demands of the Student Protest. The names of these academicians, as well as their message, were read to the gathering.

The students also heard the following message of Vlade Divac with great pleasure: "To all students in Serbia! I ardently support you in the defense of democracy."

Bora Djordjevic, a famous poet and rock'n'roll singer, was the last guest who addressed the gathering. First of all he greeted his "colleagues" ("I am still a student of FDU", he said). He told several jokes about Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia. Each time the President's name was mentioned, the students reacted, expressing their discontent.

13:00 CET
(12:00 GMT)
The route for today was: Terazije Street -> Slavija square -> Nemanjina Street (passing by the building in which most of Serbian ministries, the Constitutional and the Supreme Courts are) -> Kneza Milosa Street -> Terazije Street -> Plato.

Female students, with flowers in their hands, were walking in front of the procession. We saw a large number of cameramen, among whom there were quite a few foreign ones (CNN, ZDF, WTN, Reuters, etc). This means that foreign media have started informing about the events connected with the Student Protest.

There were no unwanted incidents today, because the students who performed the duty of maintaining order and security walked along the procession and prevented over raged colleagues in doing anything that could cause damage to the purpose of the Student protest.

Students were invited to remain in Belgrade during the "holidays" and to gather at the same time and at the same place tomorrow.

Thanks to studprot@sezam.co.yu


Back to Streets index
Back to the Home Page