Several Thousand Belgraders Join Pensioners at Rally in Support of Students

Senior protests (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Pensioners held a rally in the Republic Square in Belgrade on Feb. 5, in support of the demands of the students in blockade, and were joined by several thousand Belgraders.

The rally began at 10:00 a.m. and lasted two hours, and the pensioners, while blowing whistles and vuvuzelas, carried banners reading “Justice-When? Responsibility Now?” “Pensioners Support Students,” “One Rascal Next to Another,” “Students Write History,” “Students Are the Wisdom and Heart of Serbia.” The protest has been organized by the Association of Trade Unions of Retired Military Personnel of Serbia, whose members have been supporting the students blocking the faculties since the beginning.

“We support what you do because that is normal and natural, but also because of the injustices inflicted upon the pensioners since 2012 by failure to harmonize pensions with the increase in salaries and inflation, by taking over the majority management of the Pension and Disability Fund, by introducing penalties for early retirement below the poverty line, by discriminating against the retired farmers and military personnel,” stated the president of the Association of Trade Unions of Retired Military Personnel of Serbia, Jovan Tamburic.

He assessed that this would not be happening had the institutions been doing their job, and the gathered people responded with applause and by shouting “bravo.” “We call for a reform and the creation of a financially sustainable and just pension system, which would guarantee dignity of the current pensioners and security of future ones. Pensions are not given out of someone’s pocket or thanks to someone, even if they are the president, but through the responsibility of all the institutions that secure them,” Tamburic stated.