A protest to demand the dismissal of a professor at a university in Serbia entered its second day on March 29 as other faculty members and students of the school held a rally to demand an end to the blockade.
A group believed to be mostly young men has blocked the entrance to the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, barricading its doors, which are plastered with Serbian flags and statements attributed Professor Dinko Gruhonjic, whose dismissal the group is demanding.
Gruhonjic, who is also a journalist, has recently been targeted by both right-wing groups and representatives of the ruling coalition in Serbia.
The protesters accuse Gruhonjic of committing “hate speech” by glorifying the commander of the Jasenovac camp in a video that has been circulating on social networks for weeks. The school says the video has been edited and is false.
During World War II, tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma, and anti-fascist Croats were killed at Jasenovac camp -- known as Croatia's Auschwitz. The camp was run by Croatia's Nazi-allied Ustase regime.
The number of protesters inside the Faculty of Philosophy is unknown. A statement issued on March 28 by the group said they planned to continue the barricade until the faculty makes an announcement.
Student vice rector Damjan Vakanjac said in the statement that if the faculty had not been "deaf to our demands," the protest would not have taken place.
Vakanjac and Student Parliament President Ivana Macak called for the blockade after the group sent an ultimatum demanding Gruhonjic resign.
The protesters initially gathered on March 28 in front of the Faculty of Philosophy and then entered the building about 30 minutes later, locking the entrance with chains and a padlock and blocking the door with chairs. Police entered the building but left without commenting to the media about the situation or taking any concrete actions.
Gruhonjic joined a group of about 100 professors and students at the March 29 rally in front of the school to call for an end to the blockade.
Gruhonjic told RFE/RL he is focused on protecting himself and his family because of "constant death threats” over the past 20 days.
"If this continues, we will probably have to move out of the country at some point because we are being threatened with murder," he said, speaking in front of the faculty building.
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad told RFE/RL that it is conducting a preliminary investigation regarding threats against Gruhonjic.
The dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, Ivana Zivancevic Sekerus, said the blockade had
denied professors the right to work and the students the right to study.
"This is no longer the matter of one professor, this is the matter of all professors and students," said Zivancevic Sekerus, who took part in the rally.
Nevena Jevtic, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, said the school had been "left in the lurch" by all the institutions that the administration reached out to on March 28. But professors at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade and the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Novi Sad expressed support for their colleagues and asked for an immediate reaction from authorities.