Student List column walks from Novi Sad to Belgrade
Besides the Novi Sad group of about 1,000 registered walkers, columns are heading to Belgrade from Valjevo, Gornji Milanovac, Sabac and Zajecar. The welcome is set for Wednesday at Student Square.
A new column of walkers set out from Novi Sad toward Belgrade on the morning of Tuesday, October 20. About 1,000 people registered for the walk, among them Ilija Srdanovic, the top name on the Student List, and six of the list’s candidates. According to N1, farmers on tractors, citizens in private vehicles and a police escort also set off.
The Novi Sad group is only one of the branches. Columns from Valjevo and Gornji Milanovac, Sabac, Ljig and Zajecar are heading for the capital at the same time, all with the same goal: the Student List’s final rally on Thursday, October 22, at Slavija Square. Parliamentary elections take place on Sunday, October 25. We reported earlier on the departure of the Gornji Milanovac group.
What do we know about the Novi Sad column?
University of Novi Sad students are walking in a group that locals met in Banstol with food and fruit. According to the plan, a break is scheduled in Sremski Karlovci, then in Indjija around 5 p.m., with an overnight stay in Stara Pazova around 9 p.m.
Student Milos Drobac told N1 that the group is ready and not tired:
“Everything is ready for the road, people are not tired, we have been walking for two and a half hours. We have people walking in the column as first aid, and people waiting for them at the next stops where breaks are made.”
Student List candidate Katarina Stankovic is on the medical team of this column. She told N1:
“This is our happiest walk, of all the walks. We are heading toward the epilogue of this two-year walk (…) I hope citizens will welcome us in every town, and at the end the finale in Belgrade.”
Where are the other columns?
The group from Zajecar has been on the road longest, having set out on Friday, October 16. It has covered about 100 kilometers across the Homolje Mountains and held 16 minutes of silence in Pozarevac. Today it faces 27 kilometers to Smederevo. Student Milica Sljuka told N1:
“Today we have 27 km to Smederevo, that will be easy for us, we are a column of experienced walkers and the hardest part of the road is already far behind us - 100 km across the Homolje Mountains.”
Sljuka adds that people in the small places they pass through, those with a hundred or two hundred residents, tell them they are ready for the elections and have signed up as monitors and mobile teams.
The columns from Valjevo and Gornji Milanovac joined near Lajkovac on October 19 after 6 p.m., where citizens welcomed them with torches. The Ljig column reached Lazarevac around 10 p.m., and journalist Aleksa Banduka of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) said a rally with speeches by citizens and students was held in the town square. The merged column left Lazarevac today for Obrenovac, where it is expected between 8 and 9 p.m., and held 16 minutes of silence in Vreoci. Student Vanja described the first day on the road to N1:
“The first day of walking was harder - we had a lot of uphills and downhills and 42 km, but the people gave us motivation throughout the day, with some small welcomes. We had more than enough motivation. Today we have a 40 km road ahead of us, and tomorrow Belgrade.”
Student Nikola Marcetic from the same column said:
“The energy now is stronger than ever. People have become so encouraged that October 25 is a guaranteed victory. We are marching toward freedom.”
The Sabac column, which set out on October 19, was resting near Uba after covering about 12 kilometers since morning. Student Mladen Jovicic said it would join the Valjevo and Gornji Milanovac column in the village of Stubline, and that after Obrenovac about 30 kilometers remain to Belgrade. Asked about the welcomes and the trucks with “Serbia Wins” stickers, he said:
“The reactions are very positive, in 90 percent of cases people welcome us with delight. It is interesting - quite a few trucks with Serbia Wins stickers passed by us, but every driver in those trucks greeted us. For me that is an indicator that they are forced to carry those stickers, that they are artificially pumping up their support, while with us everything is voluntary.”
We found no reaction in the sources from those to whom this assessment refers.
When do the columns reach Belgrade?
The welcome is set for Wednesday, October 21, at Student Square. The exact time, organizers announced, will be published later. Students in blockade wrote on social media: “Victory is coming from all sides! Three columns of students are on their way to Belgrade! Welcome on 21.10. STUDENT SQUARE!”
Figures on the columns differ between sources. In their post the students mention three columns, while Nova, citing N1, reports that four were walking on October 19: from Zajecar, Valjevo and Sabac, as well as from Ljig. The Novi Sad group joined on October 20.
According to an earlier announcement, registration for the walk from western Serbia ran until midnight on October 15. The Gornji Milanovac column was to go via Ljig, Lazarevac and Obrenovac, the Valjevo one via Lazarevac and Obrenovac, and the Sabac one via Banjani near Uba. The list described the route in a message relayed by Nova:
“This time, all roads lead to Belgrade, to Slavija. Students and citizens from different parts of Serbia are coming to the last rally (before the October 25 elections), with the same wish and the same determination.”
The Student List is running in the elections under the name “Student List - Students Win”.
