00:00Medicine, bandages, water. Simon is checking supplies, while Jovana goes over the list
00:07of essentials. These high school seniors from the Mileva Maric Einstein Technical School
00:13are preparing for a 70-kilometre walk to Belgrade, where they will join a large student protest
00:18on Saturday. For the past three months, they've been blockading their school in support of
00:22university students' demands for justice, following the collapse of the train station
00:27canopy that killed 15 people in Novi Sad last November.
00:57For three months now, these high school students have been spending their days planning protests,
01:07organising campaigns and making banners. But it hasn't always been peaceful.
01:13We had a situation where a couple of us were sitting at the table next to the school, where
01:18a man came and started tearing off all the banners. We had a couple of dozens of banners
01:24in front of us, so he tore them all off and verbally attacked the students.
01:29Since that incident, the banners the students have hung on the school gates have been less
01:33provocative. The students have the unwavering support of their teachers, who have gone on
01:37strike in solidarity. In retaliation, the government has refused to pay their February
01:42salaries. History teacher Ivan PivniÄŤki says that before that happened, the proper legal
01:48procedures were not observed. The teachers are now considering taking legal action.
01:54Such a decision by the state, according to the existing laws, should be followed by a
02:00certain procedure. Disciplinary proceedings should be initiated against people who do
02:07not receive their salaries, and based on that disciplinary procedure, it should be explained
02:13why that person does not receive their salaries. During that disciplinary procedure, that person
02:20should of course explain their actions.
02:25Since Ivan's wife also works at the school, their family had no income last month. Nevertheless,
02:31they continue to protest.
02:55This is how his students feel too. After everything they've experienced, they say they have no
03:00intention of abandoning their fight for a better country.
03:25To achieve a society like this, the students say they are willing to sacrifice an entire
03:30school year if necessary, because they believe that you can make up for lost time, but not
03:36a lost life.
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