Around 100 Serb citizens in northern Mitrovica held a 15-minute silence on Friday to honor the 15 victims of a tragic incident in Novi Sad nearly three months ago. The action also served as a protest against political repression and human rights abuses under the current Serbian regime.
The demonstrators expressed their solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people participating in a nationwide protest in Serbia, in support of students advocating for a more just and equitable society.
Srđan Gjorgjević, the organizer of the event and a local resident of northern Mitrovica, called for participation in the protest via social media, urging his fellow citizens to stand up against fear. “Life is too short to mark fear,” he wrote in his post.
The protest was marked by banners bearing slogans such as “The hardest thing is to wake up a person who pretends to sleep,” and “Bloody hand,” as well as chants like “Vučić to prison” and “Vučić is gay.”
However, the student parliament of the so-called University of Pristina in northern Mitrovica opposed the protest. In an open call to students, they stated: “He who supports you is killing us. Distances yourselves from Kurti and others who want to divide Serbia.”
The tragic event that sparked these protests occurred on November 1, when a roof collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad, claiming the lives of 15 individuals. Since then, daily protests have been held throughout Serbia, calling for accountability for the incident, criminal charges against those responsible for the attack on students, and an end to political repression and torture under Serbia’s current government.
