Another protest march in Belgrade

Another protest march in Belgrade

The rally began at 6 p.m. outside the Belgrade School of Philosophy, where academician Dusan Teodorovic and actor Tihomir Stanic, addressed the crowd. The marchers then set off for the Serbian presidency first, and then proceeded on to the Serbian parliament building and the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation (RTS) headquarters.

The first marchers carried a banner reading End Bloody Shirts Stop, followed by thousands displaying signs reading: 1 in 5 Million, It's Started, Enough of the Monkey Business! The protesters blew whistles, and It's Started badges and flyers were handed out.

The protesters shouted, Vucic is a Thief, AV, AV, AV, Barbara, Answer Us and yelled Majo, Marjane, outside the Parliament.

Music blared from loudspeakers loaded on trucks, mostly songs by Djordje Balasevic and the EKV rock group, while the RTS prime-time news signature tune was aired whe the protesters reached the state TV headquarters, along with the voices of RTS newscasters speaking about President Vucic's activities.

Outside the RTS building, the banner End Bloody Shirts was replaced with another one reading 1 in 5 Million.

Speaking to the marchers, Teodorovic said that it was legal for the people to fight for justice in the streets when the elections had been rigged. He said that no new election could take place as long as President Vucic was usurping hours and hours of TV time every day, and until "rigged" election lists were put in order.

"If he fails to meet the requests of citizens, he can expect all forms of civic disobedience," Teodorovic said, telling Vucic, "We defeated Slobodan Milosevic, we will beat you, too."

Actor Tihomir Stanic said citizens were gathering around injustice.

"Repeat that to your friends and neighbors, to the jobless young people packing their bags. Tell that to your parents, whose pensions were stolen, to a friend who has lost a job or a place to live, tell that to everyone you run into, and we will win," Stanic said in his speech.

The protesters marched alongside opposition leaders Vuk Jeremic, Dragan Djilas, Borko Stefanovic, Janko Veselinovic, Milos Jovanovic and Bosko Obradovic, walking at the helm of the marchers behind the lead banner.

Another motto for the protests is Let Us Count How Many of Us Are Here, following reports by some media outlets and the authorities that only a small number of citizens rallied last week, on Dec. 8, while the organizers insist that more than 10,000 disgruntled citizens took to the streets.

The march "Against Violence End Bloody Shirts," followed an attack on Serbian Left leader Borko Stefanovic, one of the founders of the opposition Alliance for Serbia, and two other activists in Krusevac, which the opposition interpreted as a demonstration of violence by the authorities against those who dare think differently.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after last week's march that he would not fulfill a single demand by the opposition, even if five million people took to the streets, which is where the 1 in 5 Million slogan comes from.