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.
Ν1
--