Student Protest '96

December 8th, 1996

12:00 CET
(11:00 GMT)
The protest today started with a 20 minutes delay. At the beginning of the program the declaration of the students of Belgrade University was read, and after that the students were addressed by Ljuba Tadic, "the King of actors", who could not ascend the platform because of illness. He appealed to the students to persist in their protest , saying that he would like to see the backs of the people who rule this country before he dies. He added that many of his colleagues have been forbidden to appear on RTS (Serbian National Radio -Television Network) and that he joins them, not because of the prohibition, but of his own conviction.

The letter of support from the professors and students of Bucharest University was read, as well as a "little story" which goes like this: professor Djuric from the school of Philosophy invited his friends from France, eminent statesman and and academicians, to Belgrade, because they wanted to give their support to the Student Protest, but our embassy in Paris would not give them the visas! But , whether in Belgrade or not, they support us wholeheartedly.

Many professors from various Schools addressed the gathering, as well as the number of actors (we mention Sonja Jankovic and Zoran Cvijanovic, who provoked roaring laughter several times).

A nun gave a spiritual speech to the students. The route of today's walk was read then.

We must mention that a multitude of students from Kragujevac and other Universities in Serbia participated in today's protest. A representative of Kragujevac University gave a speech.

13:00 CET
(12:00 GMT)
Today's walk began at the usual place - Plato. The students went to Terazije (some 18.000 of them) and along Srpskih Vladara Street towards Slavija, making a lot of noise. A lot of rattles were thrown from a building; the students caught them and started using them directly.

The procession moved from Slavija toward of church of Sveti Sava, where the students of Theology gathered contributions for the church in exchange for badges of the Student Protest. The church bells were heard. The students returned to Slavija, and then went along Beogradska street to Bulevar Revolucije street toward the building of Federal Parliament, where they met with the procession of citizens. These group did not mix, however, (most of the students remained in their own procession).

The procession then continued to Plato, where the gathering ended.

Thanks to studprot@sezam.co.yu


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