Students Unveil Plan in Nis, SNS Stands Already There
The student list Students Are Winning unveils its plan across southern Serbia today at 58 locations, while in Nis the SNS had already set up stands at several announced sites.
The student list Students Are Winning is unveiling its plan across southern Serbia today, September 18, in Nis, Leskovac, Vranje and Kursumlija. Residents could sign the plan at 58 locations in total, 15 of them in Nis, and at some of those Nis sites, which the students had already announced publicly, stands belonging to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) showed up first.
The rollout has been moving region by region since September 15: the plan was unveiled first in Vojvodina, a day later in eastern Serbia, on September 17 in the west, and today it is the south’s turn. Tomorrow, September 19, Belgrade and central Serbia follow, closing out the cycle. We reported earlier on the 11-point plan when it was first presented.
In Nis, the stands ran in two shifts, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 5 to 9 p.m., spread across markets, parks and pedestrian zones. By city municipality, the locations broke down as follows: nine in Medijana, two in Pantelej, two in Crveni Krst, one in Palilula, while a single location in Niska Banja, on the promenade, stayed open through both shifts. That adds up to the 15 locations announced for Nis.
At several sites the students had previously announced, including the Bulevarska market, SNS activists set up their own stands first, Juzne vesti and TV Bel Ami reported. Ivan Nikolic, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Nis and one of the Students list’s candidates, does not see that as a coincidence.
As you can see, their lack of creativity knows no bounds. They literally copy everything the students announce and simply cannot come up with anything on their own.
Nikolic added that, despite this, turnout at the stands has been strong.
We are very pleased with how people have responded, and what makes me especially happy is that people of all generations are showing up.
The newsroom asked the SNS for a response to the students’ claim but had not received one by the time this article was published.
The Students’ plan runs to 11 points across three sections. The first, “Serbia or the Mafia,” covers the fight against corruption, an independent judiciary and prosecution, and oversight of police work. The second, “Knowledge Is Power,” calls for ending party-based hiring in the public sector and providing free textbooks for elementary and high school students. The third, “Serbia Grows With Us,” includes cutting the maximum length of fixed-term employment from 24 to 12 months, along with more accessible housing and healthcare. According to TV Bel Ami’s reporting, people at the Nis stands asked most about how state institutions function and about education.
The plan’s presentation in Nis was overshadowed by an incident involving a journalist. At the market in Durlan, where both the Students list and the SNS had set up stands, four men surrounded Magdalena Kostic, a journalist with the Media and Reform Center Nis, after she finished speaking with residents at the Students list’s stand and tried to survey people gathered at the SNS stand as well. They demanded that she leave, questioned who she was and why she was filming, and kept pressing even after she showed them her press credentials. The case was reported to police, who also notified the public prosecutor, and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) called on police to establish the identity and responsibility of those involved.
It is a journalist’s duty to report from the field objectively and professionally.
The Media and Reform Center’s editorial staff said in a statement, adding that no one in a public space has the right to dictate to journalists where they may stand or whom they may talk to. It is worth noting that sources disagree on when the incident took place: a report on the attack by the newspaper Danas is dated September 15, while the NUNS statement on the same case is dated September 18, so the available sources do not allow for a firm determination of exactly which day it happened.
Tomorrow, September 19, the Students list takes its plan to Belgrade and central Serbia, which, according to the announced schedule, closes out the cycle that began in Vojvodina four days ago.
