"We came from Kosovo. Voluntarily. Nobody organized us," one of those gathered in Pioneer Park in Belgrade, where a camp of students opposing the faculty blockades has been set up, tells Radio Free Europe.
In the last seven days, Pioneer Park, located near Serbia's most important state institutions, has become a site of student protests, demanding that they be allowed to attend lectures at universities.
This location currently also houses members of the disbanded Special Operations Unit (JSO), whose commanders have been convicted of war crimes and political liquidations; officials of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, as well as a larger group of people from Kosovo.
For some of them, supporting the demands of "students who want to learn" is not the primary motive for being there.
"We have come to support President Aleksandar Vučić, who is always with us," a citizen who introduces himself as Tihomir from Kosovo tells Radio Free Europe.
Asked how long they plan to stay in Pioneer Park, he answers briefly: "As long as necessary."
Based on appearances and with the help of online face-matching tools, Radio Free Europe identified among the crowd Sasha Milosevic, mayor of the Municipality of Novo Brdo in Kosovo and also chairman of the Provisional Municipal Authority of Gjilan - which operates within the Serbian system - as well as Sasha Sekulic, from the Provisional Municipal Authority of Pristina.
Milan Kovacevic from the village of Banje, near Skenderaj, was identified in the same way.
Kovačević appeared in the media in 2018, when the Office for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia donated two cows and five sheep to him, following a previous promise by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Their tents are set up in front of the entrance to the Old Palace, where the Belgrade City Assembly is located.
They did not respond to messages and calls from Radio Free Europe journalists for comment.
In Pioneer Park, REL journalists also identified employees of institutions in the municipality of Osečina in central Serbia.
The photo shows Zeljko Grujičić, member of the Municipal Council of the Municipality of Osečina, and Svetozar Gačić, chairman of the Municipal Assembly of Osečina.
This municipality also did not respond to Radio Free Europe's questions about how many municipal officials are currently staying in the camp in Belgrade, and whether the municipality has organized their travel.
The Serbian opposition previously announced about "organizations from the Serbian List."
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has learned that Serbs from various areas of Kosovo, such as Štrpce, Gračanica, North Mitrovica, Leposavic and Zubin Potok, have gone to the camp in front of the Serbian Presidency.
Among them are also employees of Serbian institutions, who are believed to have been given daily wages and promised monthly salary increases.
There are also those who work in Kosovo's institutions, but who are close to the Serbian List - the largest Serbian party in Kosovo, which has the support of Belgrade.
Radio Free Europe has information from several sources close to the people who went to the camp that they were informed "overnight" at what time and from which place they would leave for Belgrade, to offer support to Serbian President Vučić. Some left in organized buses and some in their private cars.
Radio Free Europe's sources wish to remain anonymous for security reasons.
Since late February, the Serbian opposition in Kosovo has warned the public that the Serbian List is organizing Serbs from Kosovo to create a "human wall" in front of the Serbian Presidency, to "protect" President Vučić from the "color revolution."
Radio Free Europe asked the Serbian List and the Presidency of Serbia whether it is true that they are behind the organization of Serbs from Kosovo going to Belgrade to "protect" Vučić, as well as what is the purpose of such an organization and from whom Vučić should be protected, but, by the time of publication of this article, it had not received a response.
Pressure due to different views
On the other hand, in North Mitrovica - the northern part of Kosovo - several rallies have been held so far, in support of the students in the blockade, and some have also gone to protests in various cities in Serbia.
One of them is Goran Antiq from North Mitrovica. He also plans to participate in another rally in Belgrade on March 15.
Antiq, who owns a passenger transport agency, also transports students and other citizens from North Mitrovica, who support the students in the blockades, at his own expense.
His motive - as he tells Radio Free Europe - is to help people "who are fighting for the truth."
"There will be about 60 of us, maybe even more. Anyone who comes is welcome, there is no blackmail, bribery, fear. Everyone decides according to their own conscience," says Antiq.
He adds that his fellow countrymen who have set up camps in front of the Serbian Presidency to support "students who want to study" are "blackmailed" and "taking bribes."
"First of all, they are not students, they have never studied anything, they just listen to their employers. They are blackmailed with work, some are offered daily wages, some are promised that they will be employed... Everyone gets either money or some promise. Basically, no one went there out of love," says Antiq.
According to him, the Serbian List exerts pressure due to "different views".
He says that educational institutions in northern Kosovo have been ordered not to cooperate with him and not to engage him on school excursions.
He says he doesn't feel under pressure, that they have nothing to blackmail him with, because it's not in the "state budget."
Serbs from Kosovo receive various incomes from the Serbian budget - from salaries and pensions to social benefits.
Kosovo authorities have closed most of the institutions that operated under the Serbian system, but employees continue to be paid.
Otherwise, some students from the University of North Mitrovica, which operates within the Serbian system, held another rally in support of the students in the blockade, on March 13. They were also supported by several professors and other citizens.
A day earlier, a delegation of students from the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade sent an invitation to North Mitrovica for a rally planned in Belgrade on March 15.
However, in mid-December last year, the Rectorate of the University of North Mitrovica announced that it supports the right to free opinion, but distances itself from the views of individuals.
He emphasized that the academic community should not be politicized./REL
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