Students Rally at Vuk's Monument in Belgrade on October 4
The Guardians of the Homeland rally starts at 6 p.m., a day after the pre-election event in Novi Pazar, with corruption, farming, education and life in Kosovo and Metohija on the agenda.
Students in blockade have scheduled a “Guardians of the Homeland” rally for Sunday, October 4, at 6 p.m. at Vuk’s Monument in Belgrade. The call was posted on the studenti.org.rs site on the evening of September 29 and carried by the Beta news agency. According to the announcement, citizens will talk with students about the issues that will shape Serbia’s future.
The rally comes a day after a large pre-election rally in Novi Pazar and eighteen days before the closing gathering of the Student List, also in Belgrade. Elections are set for October 25.
Which issues are on the students’ list?
The call says that “corruption, institutions and the irresponsibility of those in power have been at the center of public life for years,” but also that there are questions that will decide what Serbia looks like in ten, twenty or fifty years. Among them, the students list these:
“What will happen to our land? How will we protect the environment and natural resources? What kind of education are we leaving to the generations to come? Can a farmer in Serbia live off his work?”
The same list includes the question “What will happen to Serbian institutions and the everyday lives of people in Kosovo and Metohija?” The students also said that “education and the position of teachers and other school staff will also be among the central topics,” a wording taken from the call itself.
In all, the call names corruption and the accountability of those in power, the state of agriculture and farmers’ incomes, protection of the environment and natural resources, the question of land, the quality of education, the position of school staff, and life in Kosovo and Metohija. The call went up on the students’ site on Tuesday evening, and Beta carried it the same day, September 29, at 10:47 p.m.
What does the schedule look like until October 25?
The previous large rally was held in Kragujevac, and three big gatherings follow before the vote:
- October 3, 7 p.m.: a large rally in Novi Pazar called “3 for 3,” announced by students in blockade on social media
- October 4, 6 p.m.: “Guardians of the Homeland” at Vuk’s Monument in Belgrade
- October 22: the closing large rally of the Student List in Belgrade, three days before the elections
The Kragujevac rally on September 26 was held under the name “Meeting No. 3.” There, students welcomed cyclists who had spent the previous ten days touring Serbia as part of the “Guardians of the Constitution” ride.
The students’ rally in Novi Pazar coincides with an event on the other side. On the same day, October 3, the Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia list is holding a rally at the Arena in Belgrade, so two pre-election events that day take place in two different cities.
