"The narrative they are trying to spread belongs to the past."
This was the response of Novi Pazar State University student Amar Liçina to a series of insults from pro-government tabloids and government representatives directed at the Bosniak population in Novi Pazar, southwest Serbia.
"A classic attempt to divert attention from what really happened in Novi Pazar."
On the night of July 27-28, a group of masked men forcibly evicted students who had blocked the State University in Novi Pazar. They were accompanied by the rector, Zana Doličanin.
A protest was then organized, attended by hundreds of students and citizens. The protesters clashed with the police, and arrests were made.
The Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the police had arrived during the night at the request of the State University leadership, in order to maintain public order and peace.
"The incidents were provoked by the rector Zana Doliçanin - if she had not entered the University building yesterday with the men in black hoods, none of this would have happened," said student Amar Liçina.
He points out that there were both Bosniak and Serb students in the blockade of the Novi Pazar State University (USNP).
"Among the citizens at the protest there were both Serbs and Bosniaks. There were also Serbian and Bosniak police officers."
"So, this is not about interethnic problems, but about anti-academic action," he concludes.
In the end, the police withdrew, the students returned to the university building and declared "victory."
Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, tabloids published content filled with insults, mainly on religious grounds, towards Bosniaks – who make up the majority of the population in Novi Pazar.
They were accused of extremism and attacking the state.
With softer language than that of the tabloids, but with a similar message, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, also spoke about citizens of the Islamic faith.
What do the tabloids write and what did Vučić say?
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, in an appearance on Informer television, stated that what happened in Novi Pazar was “politically organized,” according to him, on the orders of some “openly anti-Serbian options.” He did not provide any evidence for these claims.
Meanwhile, tabloids have published a series of headlines and texts where protesters in Novi Pazar have been labeled with inflammatory and offensive terms such as: "Islamists", "jihadists", "extremists", "blockade mujahedeen hooligans".
Political scientist from Novi Pazar, Fahrudin Kladničanin, considers such claims to be completely unfounded.
"We have not had any problems with radical Wahhabi movements in Sandzak for 12-13 years now. The situation is completely under control, so I see no reason why this is being dramatized," he said.
"I understand the function of the tabloids and the way they have been put at the service of the regime's machinery, but Novi Pazar and the Bosniaks who live there absolutely do not deserve this," Kladničanin added.
This rhetoric aimed to delegitimize the student protest and incite ethnic divisions, shifting the accusations from the content of the protest to the religious or ethnic affiliation of the participants.
One of the tabloids' theses, also without presenting any evidence, was that "the Serbs of Novi Pazar fear for their safety at night."
Commenting on this, student Amar Liçina emphasizes that the citizens of Novi Pazar, both Bosniaks and Serbs, see each other as brothers and sisters.
"I think those nights when Serbs in Novi Pazar were afraid never came. We have never been divided – the one who divides us is in the position of the president of the state," he added.
"Turn a blind eye to the crisis in the state"
Through efforts to incite interethnic divisions, the government is trying to shift attention from the deep social and political crisis that the entire country is experiencing, assesses political scientist Fahrudin Kladničanin.
"Over the last 30 years, Sandzak has always served Belgrade as a 'showpiece' to divert attention from the real problems in the country and to 'anesthetize' a part of public opinion with the claim that the Serbian people are allegedly threatened in Novi Pazar - something that is completely unfounded," he stressed.
He assessed that the Serbian president is addressing a part of his electorate that "has radical affinities."
"His rhetoric really fits with the nationalist and radical politics of the '90s – 'we have an enemy.' Today, that enemy is the Bosniaks, the Muslims," Kladničanin said.
Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party emerged from the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is Vojislav Šešelj, convicted of war crimes in The Hague.
Kladničanin assessed that the government in Serbia has once again attempted to play the "nationalism card", but that "it did not work".
The government says 'there is no fabrication of clashes'
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced after the protest that 10 people who participated in the incident in front of the State University in Novi Pazar had been detained, adding that all those who attacked the police would be prosecuted "regardless of ethnicity."
Dacic also said that it is a "lie" that there is any fabrication of a clash between Serbs, Bosniaks and other citizens in Novi Pazar.
He assessed that this is also proven by the fact that the police chief in Novi Pazar is Bosniak, as is the rector of the State University.
They were appointed to those positions before this situation occurred.
Part of the leadership of the University of Novi Pazar, including the rector, are among the few at the head of public higher education institutions in Serbia who have publicly spoken out against the student protests.
Vučić's threats
Speaking to Informer television, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić warned that the State University in Novi Pazar will be deprived of state financial support. He also made a similar threat to the municipality of Novi Pazar.
"Novi Pazar is a very specific environment and I think it is completely inappropriate to reflect the general crisis that has been going on for eight months through the State University," said political scientist Kladničanin.
Vučić also accused representatives of the Bosniak parties in power of "dreaming of getting as much money as possible from Belgrade, because Novi Pazar is poor and they cannot do anything with their own money."
Clash with coalition partners
After that, criticism of those “who are in the Government of Serbia” followed. Vučić said he is disappointed with his coalition partners from Novi Pazar.
The Serbian government includes ministers from two of the three most influential Bosniak parties, which are headquartered in that city.
Husein Memić from the Democratic Party of Sandzak is Minister of Tourism and Youth, while Usame Zukorlić from the Justice and Reconciliation Party is Minister without Portfolio.
Political scientist Fahrudin Kladničanin stressed that over the past eight months, since the student-led anti-government protests began, the stance of Bosniak parties has been “very soft, not to say reserved.”
"At no point have they come out publicly in support of the regime or the president of Serbia, and they have not given him any full support," he said.
"In my opinion, the government wanted to draw the attention of its Bosniak coalition partners that they are not sufficiently engaged," he added.
Kladničanin assessed that Bosnian politicians are "aware of the situation" and that they are "considering very carefully how to position themselves in this whole story."
Meanwhile, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Rasim Lajić, has also made a statement.
He said that his party will seek talks with coalition partners on all problems and open issues that exist in the relations between them.
Lajic stressed that Novi Pazar, as a multiethnic city, has no need for "insults on ethnic and religious grounds."
Usame Zukorlic also reacted, saying that the developments at the Novi Pazar State University "have caused division and dissatisfaction among citizens," adding that he will speak "openly about this" with the president of Serbia.
He made this statement days ago, criticizing the nationalist celebration organized by the tabloid Informer, which was attended by almost the entire state elite.
In addition to nationalist songs, Chetnik songs were also sung at the event. The Serbian president was also seen celebrating to the sounds of a song, one of the verses of which reads "Turkey swore in front of the mosque that it has only loved one Serb."
For this reason, a civic protest was held in Novi Pazar.
Support from citizens across Serbia
The State University in Novi Pazar has been under blockade since January 26th.
Around 3,500 students study there, mainly from the Sandzak region.
Footage in which students of this higher education institution are seen honoring the victims of the accident in Novi Sad, praying together and making the sign of the cross, has gone viral.
One of the largest student protests was held in Novi Pazar in April, when demonstrators from all over Serbia came to the city.
Students from this city at the time said that they "finally feel like equal students of this country."
"Absolutely, the feeling is still the same. A strong sense of community and that we are all one," said student Amar Liçina, emphasizing that for him and his colleagues, nothing has changed after the incident.
In a sign of support for the citizens and students of Novi Pazar, protests were organized in several cities in Serbia on July 29.
Student-led protests and blockades in Serbia have been ongoing for more than eight months. The main demand is to determine political and criminal responsibility for the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of a concrete shelter at the Novi Sad Railway Station./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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