“We stopped the spread of Ćacilization”: Novi Sad residents celebrate Vučić postponing visit

Residents gathered in central Novi Sad to celebrate after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić postponed a planned visit to the city. Citizen assemblies invited people to mark what they called a victory over the “spread of Ćacilization.”

The gathering followed Vučić’s announcement that a Serbian Progressive Party rally scheduled for September 4 would not take place at the planned location. Organizers had begun assembling a stage outside City Hall around 3 p.m., but communal police fined them, saying they were occupying public space and had not registered the gathering.

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We stopped the spread of Ćacilization in our city.

Runners wearing shirts reading “I run for the students” arrived in Freedom Square after leaving the campus. Their welcome was intended to mark the start of the event, which also included speeches and was expected to feature music. The central gathering began at 7 p.m.

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The main message is that Novi Sad is a free city.

Aleksa Bjelobrk of the Novi Sad Citizens’ Assembly said the main message was that Novi Sad was a free city. “Free citizens have gathered here. Nobody came because they were paid, blackmailed or forced,” he told N1. He said the group opposed the politics that had led to what he called a terrible tragedy and that people advocating those policies were not welcome.

Political scientist Radivoje Jovović described the postponement of the SNS rally as “a major defeat for Vučić’s pre-election campaign.” Miran Pogačar of the Bravo movement said not only citizens, political parties and groups opposing Vučić had welcomed the cancellation, but also employees of public companies who had been expected to attend.

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Free citizens have gathered here. Nobody came because they were paid, blackmailed or forced.

Vučić announced the postponement through social media on September 2, citing security. He said people’s lives were most important and that he wanted to avoid a situation in which police would have to protect his opponents from angry citizens supporting him. Citizen assemblies had spent days preparing their own event under the slogan “Stop the Ćacilization of Novi Sad.”

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A major defeat for Vučić’s pre-election campaign.