Opposition MPs and Novi Sad Aldermen Blocking Court Building Entrance in Vojvodina’s Capital, Riot Police Pushing Them Away

Marinika Tepic (BETAPHOTO/Dragan Gojic)

In the morning on Nov. 19, MPs of the Serbian and Vojvodina parliaments together with Novi Sad City Assembly aldermen blocked the entrance to the building hosting a city court and prosecution office, intending to camp there until the end of working hours.

Later on, several dozens of police officers in riot gear, including helmets, body armor and riot shields, arrived at the site, pushing the crowd away from the entrance, with scuffles occurring on the outside stairway.

One of the protesters, Marinika Tepic, the Freedom and Justice Party deputy leader and a Serbian Parliament MP, said that police officers had been kicking Serbian and Vojvodina MPs and city aldermen assembled outside the building, stressing that one police officer had pulled a gun.

“They have been pushing us away with their riot shields, but what you cannot see is that they have also been kicking us,” Tepic told TV N1 while being pushed away by riot police together with other protestors.

Tepic also said the rally had been organized to demand the release of people detained during and after an earlier protest, as well as accountability for “the deaths of 15 people killed” in Novi Sad in an accident earlier this month.

“We came here to be at our workplace. To remind the court that it had to make rulings in the name of the people and according to the law, rather than in the name of the bands of brothers, Aleksandar and Andrej (Vucic), and the likes of them. We have not been violent, we only want to stand here outside the court building peacefully. We are only doing our job, while the Prosecutors office has not been doing theirs,” Tepic said.

Among the crowd are opposition officials, including Borislav Novakovic, Nebojsa Novakovic, Branislav Grubacki, Janko Veselinovic, Marija Vasic, Mladen Cvijetic, and Miran Pogacar.

The opposition MPs and aldermen blocked the building entrance to demand release of people detained during and after a massive protest in Novi Sad on Nov. 5, organized in the wake of the collapse of an outside concrete canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station on November 1, killing 15 and severely injuring two people.