Peaceful and mass blockade of the Belgrade district of Avtokommanda

The student blockade of the Belgrade district of Avtokommanda took place peacefully, without incidents, but also en masse.
Peacefully, without incidents, but also en masse took place overnight the student blockade of Belgrade's Avtokommanda district.
Even after midnight, citizens were constantly changing - coming and going, giving support to the students who have been blocking traffic on Avtokommanda since Monday morning. Citizens used the tram tracks, which are passable, to deliver food and drinks to the students in cars. A column of taxi drivers also joined the blockade.
Many of the students and citizens blocking the Auto Command switched on the flashlights on their phones before midnight and pointed them skyward, and chants of "Meet the Demands" were heard from the crowd.
Also a large group of citizens arriving at the Autocommando blockade through Slavija Square. The pedestrian street leading to Vozdovac and South Avenue was full of people, as was part of Osvobozhdenie Avenue. The traffic at the Slavia roundabout towards Vozdovac was not functioning and people kept joining the blockade through Slavia. Traffic police were deployed on Slavia.
The blockade started at 11.52 a.m. on 27 January, when a tribute was paid to the victims of the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad on 1 November last year, in which 15 people died. It will end at noon today.
Throughout the day, students organised various protest actions. Students and citizens socialized, cooked, played volleyball, basketball and board games. They were joined by tractor and motorcycle riders. In the evening, the central Serbian media RTS reported that more and more people from different directions joined the event.
Marijana Djuric from the capital's emergency service told RTS that drinking water, mobile toilets, garbage bins and emergency teams would be present throughout.
There was a scuffle with an RTS team that was attacked from the scene and unable to join one og the evening newscasts, but no violence ensued.
The 24-hour blockade comes just a few days after a general strike in Serbia in which tens of thousands of citizens protested against the authoritarian, corrupt and police-led Vucic regime. On 24 January, a number of civil society organisations, associations and businesses stopped work and many schools remained closed.
On Saturday 25 January, rallies were held in nearly 20 cities, followed by the "Noise against Dictatorship" action a day later, when Serbian citizens were called upon to bang pots and pans and make noise from their open windows in support of the students. | BGNES