Original article (in Serbian) was published on 26/3/2025; Author: Stefan Kosanović
Yesterday, tabloids published a series of photos from the Economics School in Leskovac, claiming that students participating in the blockade had vandalized the school. The key photo used to support this claim shows a neglected room labeled as a classroom, although, according to the students, it is actually the janitor’s room located in the basement. Students from the Economics School and the Leskovac Gymnasium, who share the same building, are jointly participating in the class blockade. They claim the photos were taken earlier, likely by the janitor, and were deliberately used to undermine the legitimacy of the protest. They also state that the school building has been neglected for years, with a leaking ceiling, and that part of it collapsed in the middle of last year, slightly injuring two female students. They believe that the poor infrastructure is now being used as an argument against the blockade.
Yesterday, the newspaper Alo published a photo from the Economics School in Leskovac. The photo shows a classroom that looks as if a bomb had exploded inside. Not just a bomb, it looks like someone had also thrown in planks, plastic pipes, rods, and a ton of dust. The tabloid claims that the protesting students vandalized the school. The truth, however, is far less dramatic, the room in the photo is not a classroom, but rather the janitor’s workshop located in the basement, as confirmed by students of the school.
That is not the only photo featured in the article. Yesterday, many tabloids, including Alo, reported in a synchronized manner about the school in Leskovac, claiming that the students participating in the blockade had caused chaos. A total of 11 photos of the school were published across these articles, including the janitor’s workshop, as well as photos of broken doors, trash in a bathroom stall, a damaged wooden cabinet, and classrooms where desks had been moved from their usual places, with a small amount of litter visible underneath.
Interestingly, the articles mention only the Economics School, although the same building and rooms shown in the photos are also used by students from the Leskovac Gymnasium. Students from both schools jointly started the blockade, first at the end of the first semester and now again in the second semester.
“The photos were taken by the janitors, who work at the school and are, in a way, against us. They went around looking for the most critical moments. This was actually planned for some time, obviously, because the photos were taken earlier”, claim members of the self-organized group of students from the Gymnasium and Economics School in Leskovac who are participating in the blockade.
“The principal (Dragana Cvetanovic, principal of the Gymnasium, editor’s note) is the ex-wife of the mayor of Leskovac, and she is very much against us, even though she denies it, she says she is the principal of all of us. But she is the first to give orders to the janitors and others; the janitors literally follow her instructions. So this is all her work, which is why we were so quickly shown on Pink TV. It’s all, in some way, a setup by the current authorities and our principal, who is trying to prevent the blockade”, the protesting students told Raskrikavanje.
Some or all of these photos were republished by the following outlets: Alo, Informer, Kurir, Euronews, Pink, Telegraf, Novosti, Politika, K1 info, Moja Bijeljina, Moja TV, B92, Adrimedia, Srbija danas, Otvoreno.ba.
It is interesting that Alo and Informer published their articles almost simultaneously, exactly at 1:32 p.m. Even more intriguing is that the paragraphs in both texts are nearly identical, as if copied from the same source. While Alo’s article is signed by journalist Darko Kovacevic, Informer published its article under the newsroom’s byline.
The tabloids continued building their narrative from this incident.
Soon after, Blic contacted Biljana Djordjevic, the principal of the Economics School and one of the two principals in the building that also houses the Leskovac Gymnasium. She briefly explained that she was traveling and had been informed by colleagues and friends about what had happened.
“I honestly don’t know what this is about, I’m surprised. For now, I don’t know anything more about what happened. It seems to me like there has been some sort of abuse”, Djordjevic told Blic, adding that her position is that everyone should return to classes collectively.
It turns out that her colleague, the principal of the Gymnasium, had already reported the allegedly caused damage to the police due to the student blockades.
Namely, the web portal Blic reminded that a school-issued laptop had previously been reported missing from the school, and they contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), which confirmed that three reports had come from the school. The first, which occurred at the beginning of February, has already been resolved. The two new reports, according to the police, were submitted yesterday and concern the Gymnasium.
“The first report came in today around 9:30 a.m. and concerns the theft of students’ diplomas. The second was filed by the principal of the Gymnasium and refers to all damage that has occurred in the school since the beginning of the student blockades”, the police told Blic.
Last night, students of the Gymnasium and the Economics School issued a joint statement drawing attention to the fact that the photos published in the tabloids were used with malicious intent.
They say the central photo published in all the articles shows a workshop in the school’s basement, while they claim the doors and toilets shown in the other photos had already been in that condition during the humanitarian tournaments they organized at the end of February.
Pressure from staff
Dissatisfaction among students arose due to the pressure that followed after one senior-year class independently left a lesson for 15 minutes to honor the victims in Novi Sad. Following that act, there were threats of convening a parent-teacher meeting and accusations that they were rebels, even though, according to the students, aside from that brief walkout, they did not engage in any other actions.
“We had teachers who stood at the doors of the lower grades and forbade them from leaving. That’s when we also felt pressure from certain teachers”, said members of the self-organized group of students from the Gymnasium and Economics School in Leskovac who are participating in the blockade, in a statement to Raskrikavanje.
Discrediting students participating in the blockade
Yesterday, almost simultaneously with the publication of articles about students from Leskovac, the news web portal Politika shared unofficial information claiming that scabies had appeared at several faculties of the University of Belgrade, as well as in a few high schools in the capital. The article further manipulates the information by suggesting that staff and employees were banned from entering faculty buildings.
The day before, the same web portal wrote about the Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium, stating that the school “looks like a laundromat”. The claim was supported by a single photo from the Instagram profile of a student participating in the blockade, showing part of a hallway where laundry is drying.
“We are not running from responsibility, the photos speak for themselves, but we distance ourselves from one thing: that the students of the Gymnasium and the Economics School vandalized their school property!” reveals the statement from the united students.
Students from the Gymnasium claim that, regarding the theft of the official laptop, underage students were questioned by the police, and that afterward, they received conflicting information about where the device was located. They also question why certificates and personal documents were allegedly kept in a locker next to the gym, which is otherwise intended for storing balls.
Terrible condition of the building shared by the Gymnasium and Economics School
While two students from the “Djuka Dinic” Economics School in Leskovac were on a long break in mid-September last year, a section of the ceiling collapsed on them, fortunately, without causing serious injury.
“A section of the ceiling, about half a square meter, fell due to moisture. We immediately called emergency services, informed the parents, the School administration, and the classroom has been out of use”, Juzne vesti reported at the time based on information from the school.
Numerous tabloids also reported the news, but after that, there was silence.
“The ceiling has fallen on us multiple times”, say the students involved in the blockade, adding:
“There was also some issue in the gym, they locked it and didn’t let us see. When there was a storm, water started leaking on the second floor, everyone was evacuated, but the principal told the media that the roof had never leaked”.
The students emphasize that they are not blocking any construction work at the school, on the contrary, their fifth demand is the reconstruction of the roof, and they can’t wait for the workers to arrive.
The ceiling isn’t the only issue with the building. Students draw attention specifically to the doors that can be seen in the tabloid photos.
“Those doors are falling apart, and honestly, let’s not lie to ourselves — I spent my first and second years fixing door handles because we got locked inside the classroom several times. This school is completely dysfunctional, it’s really in bad condition. It hasn’t been renovated since my grandparents went to this Gymnasium. Now they are using that against us, because it was previously kept as a state secret how the school looks on the inside”, says one student from the Gymnasium in Leskovac.
