Novak Djokovic supports protesters against populist rule in Serbia

SPORT – For more than two months, the Serbian government has been under pressure from thousands of demonstrators. Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, who is playing in the Australian Open, sent a message of support on Sunday January 19 to students protesting against the populist government in Serbia, deploring the acts of « violence » that they suffer.

“My support always goes to young people, students and all those to whom the future of our country belongs”Novak Djokovic said at a press conference in Melbourne, after qualifying for the quarter-finals of the tournament.

“This is a big defeat for us as a society”

Serbia is rocked by a wave of protests organized by a student movement demanding justice after a deadly collapse at a train station and blocking most of the country’s universities. Thirteen people have been charged in this case, including the former Minister of Transport. Protesters also accuse President Aleksandar Vucic and his party (SNS, nationalist right) of corruption.

“I can’t pretend that nothing is happening (in Serbia) of course these things affect me”added the tennis player, referring in particular to an incident in which a student was hit by a car on Thursday when students blocked an intersection in Belgrade.

“Unfortunately, this is not the only situation of violence against students and young people (…) It is a great defeat for us as a society, for Serbian society in general”added the world No.7.

“I would like my children to grow up in Serbia. I would like young people who went abroad to return to Serbia and live in Serbia”continued Djokovic, an idol for many Serbs.

If at first the Serbian president had said he was “ready to hear” what the protesters “think”he said on Saturday, on a local television set, that Serbia was facing a “attempted color revolution” orchestrated, according to him, by “foreign agents” of “Western countries”which aim to “weaken Serbia”.

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