Vucic: The Authorities Have Always Been Peaceable, Tolerant, and Will Remain So on Nov. 1

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said on Oct. 28 that the government has “always been peaceable, patient and responsible” and will remain so on Nov. 1, when – at the invitation of the country’s protesting university students – a rally will be held in Novi Sad to commemorate the anniversary of the city’s railway station canopy collapse which killed 16 people.

In an evening address in Tashkent following his meeting with Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Vucic claimed that the rally’s organizers are not congregating in Novi Sad to pay homage to the victims.

“Whatever they do, the state has always been tolerant, patient, peaceable and responsible. It will remain so on Nov. 1 as well and on every other day. Even if the [students organizing the rally] want to achieve something, they’ll achieve nothing. Unfortunately, they’re not rallying to pay homage. There are good people who want to [do that], but those organizing [the gathering] have no intention of doing so. We’ll try to organize a true homage to the deceased and to continue the process of determining responsibility [for the canopy collapse] and to pinpointing the individuals who are fundamentally responsible for what happened,” Vucic said.

The president reiterated that the system “has been consolidated” during the year-long protests and student blockades spurred by the accident and added that “the victor is visible.”

“The system has been consolidated. Not fully, not completely, the fight to achieve this will last another year. The victor is visible and there is no going back. It’s as if you claimed not to see who is winning after the 1943 Battle of Stalingrad. Trends are like that, unstoppable,” Vucic concluded.