Nis: Police Summon Students Ahead of Vucic Rally
Ahead of Vucic's arrival for the SNS Steering Committee session in Nis, police summoned blockade students for interviews, and the Free University wants the session moved out of the National Theater.
Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, arrives in Nis today for a session of the Steering Committee of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), scheduled for 11 a.m. at the National Theater. Committee members are expected an hour earlier, and the session itself is closed to the public. Half an hour before it starts, at 10:30 a.m., at the Crveni Pevac intersection, students from the blockade at the University of Nis called on residents to give the president the kind of welcome the city gave him in May last year.
We previously reported that the students had called for a gathering. What is new since yesterday is that police have started summoning students for informative interviews ahead of the session, that two of them have already been to the police headquarters, and that the Free University of Nis issued a statement demanding that SNS not hold its session at the National Theater.
Summons for questioning
According to the blockade students, two people were at the police headquarters in Nis yesterday, and one student was called by phone in the morning. The students say that during the interviews they did not answer questions from the police chief and other officers, which they describe as malicious, and that they expect police could summon other students and residents as well. They have asked everyone who gets contacted to inform colleagues and fellow citizens about it, and to consult with others before giving any statement.
The Interior Ministry and the police have not commented on these claims so far.
President Vucic responded to the announced gathering by saying he was not backing out of the trip.
“I thought they had come to their senses, but it seems they haven’t. I’m asking the police to let them do it, just so I can see exactly what they’ll do.”
A day earlier, speaking to reporters in Subotica, he had already confirmed the visit: “Of course I’ll go to Nis. We have the SNS Steering Committee there, and I’ll be there.”
Clash over the National Theater
On September 4, the Free University of Nis issued a statement demanding that the Steering Committee session not be held at the National Theater, and that the theater’s management publish its lease agreement with the Serbian Progressive Party. The university sent the same demand to other public companies involved in organizing the event.
Students themselves also struck a personal note about the president’s visit to their city. Dusan, a student from Nis, told Nova.rs that “no one would want to see a man like that in their city,” adding that the city had endured what he called terror over the past two years. Luka Niciforovic, a law student in Nis, explained to N1 why he believes the president is not welcome there.
“The city government isn’t legitimate, as we know. SNS lost the last elections in Nis, the citizens of Nis have already expressed their dissatisfaction democratically, the elections were usurped, we didn’t expect anything else. The south keeps getting emptied out the most, more than any other region in Serbia.”
The students called on residents to bring whistles, vuvuzelas, Serbian flags, and banners to the gathering, with a message they published ahead of the event: “Let them hear us and let them see us! Nis is not their party’s fiefdom, Nis is an imperial city!”
What the president did before the session
Before the Steering Committee session, Vucic toured the construction site of the new Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic building at the Nis Clinical Center, as well as work on the second phase of the Nis Science and Technology Park. He also made a remark about the session itself.
“I put on a formal suit for the SNS Steering Committee,” he said, claiming the party enrolls dozens of new members every day, including people who previously took part in the student blockades.
The Steering Committee session is scheduled for 11 a.m., with the students’ welcome at Crveni Pevac half an hour earlier. The students say that if police summon any more of them for questioning before then, they will notify the public immediately.
