Loncar: Worst possible kind of fascism happened in Belgrade last night, perpetrators must be punished

Photo: Tanjug/SAVA RADOVANOVIC

Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said today that the worst possible kind of fascism happened in Belgrade last night, and called on the institutions to identify and punish the perpetrators of the violence against the students who want classes to resume.

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After visiting the Diagnostics Center of the Obrenovac Health Center, Loncar told reporters that students who have only one wish - to study - got attacked, and were taken to the Emergency Center in a state of shock, beaten and injured.

"Some have been discharged, others will be examined again. They will heal those injuries. The psychological trauma will always stay with them," Loncar said.

The minister stressed that for this reason he is demanding from the relevant authorities to urgently find the perpetrators and to mete out strict punishment to them.

"Otherwise, the relevant authorities, if they don't do it, will be responsible if people were to think they are not doing their job and that they (people) have to organize themselves and fight. This is the last warning to them (authorities)," said Loncar.

He wondered if there is another example anywhere in the world where professors, faculties, deans, rectors, are convincing students not to attend classes but to to go on strikes, and take part in boycotts.

"Professors ask these same children to fight for higher salaries, for what they are not doing, they force children to destroy themselves, destroy the state, destroy everything. If anyone knows of another such example in the world - and by the way, for these children to bring them to power for no reason, because they imagined that this is how it should be - let us know," said Loncar.

His message for the parents of the students taking part in blockades is to think about whether diplomas can be recognized when students don't attend classes, and to think about what those children will end up doing.

"You (parents) have invested a lot in them and those children have invested a lot. Don't follow the example of those who are not interested in graduating, who have already secured money for themselves, and everything they need to go abroad. Whereas you and your children will stay here with us in Serbia and we will all go from problem to problem. From the fact that diplomas cannot be recognized, from the fact that time has been wasted, from the fact that they cannot graduate on time, from the fact that they will not have acquired sufficient knowledge, from the fact that future students are being prevented from enrolling to university," said the minister.

Loncar added that no one is banned from engaging in politics, but that both students and professors should be doing that outside the school premises and outside the working hours.

"Run in all the elections, thank God, elections are held often, you must have some idea, you must have some program. With these fascist acts, with this fascism, I don't know whom that suits. I'm just afraid what the reaction of the citizens, especially the parents will be when they realize what their children have been led into, what this will lead to, what the consequences will be. The biggest problems will be with those parents who will hold them (those behind protests) responsible for everything that has happened," Loncar said.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)