Taxi drivers end protest in Belgrade after talking to President Vucic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met on Tuesday with representatives of taxi associations who have been protesting and blocking central Belgrade for days. After the meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic, they decided to end the strike.

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The talks in the Serbian Presidency lasted almost two hours.

The deal came during the 12th protest gathering.

Aleksandar Bijelic, president of the Taxi Association of Serbia, apologized to the citizens and said that after talking with the president, a decision was made to end the strike.

"Rules will have to be enforced on everyone who is not registered. We will now have daily activities in reporting what is happening. As we sat and talked we heard that one vehicle had been confiscated, which means that the state has already started to implement the rules," he said.

He said the protest would stop once he addressed his colleagues and explained what had been agreed with the Serbian president.

"What's very important to note is that the image of taxi drivers will change, we will start buying new vehicles and giving benefits to certain categories of society," said Bjelic.

He said the situation would be monitored and that in case regulations are not respected, taxi drivers would come out and say who was doing what.

"We will be in daily touch with the relevant ministry and ministers and we'll see what is done and what isn't. If things are not done the way we discussed them, there'll be nothing left to do than to ask you to gather as before, and say who didn't do their part," he said.

He said that President Vucic assured them that everything would be done as agreed and that the next step was to address one of the relevant institutions.

Asked why they didn't go to President Vucic immediately, Bjelic said he was not clairvoyant.

"We had a request from the president to reduce the pressure on the citizens, and yesterday we agreed with Novi Sad taxi drivers that they should stop their protests. When the president spoke it was clear to us that we would receive support for something that is within the law. The president doesn't go beyond the law," Bjelic concluded.

(Telegraf.rs)