Ten, Nine...

On Wednesday, January 22, shortly before 6 p.m., some tens of thousands of people were counting the last seconds to the full hour, chants were heard: "Five, four, three, two, one... Hooray!" From the loudspeakers situated on top of the jeep parked among the mass, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack was blaring. Students from the "third shift" (Schools of Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Dentistry, Civil Engineering, Chemistry, Mining, Traffic and Agriculture) replaced their colleagues from the Schools of Philosophy, Mechanical Engineering, Economy, Veterinary Medicine, Special Education, and Political Science. This is how the third day of the student war until exhaustion with the police cordon in Kolarceva street passed.

The student's three similar previous actions held earlier this month were concluded by a relatively quick surrender of the law enforcement officers, who had on the first day, shortly after midnight, received orders to retreat and leave the students to freely walk throughout the city. This time, however, it seems as though the police have decided to meet the students' challenge and that someone has seriously decided to prove that the boys in blue can endure longer than them. That shall not prove to be an easy task, since the heavily attired policemen, unlike the students, are not allowed to skip to the rhythm of the music, while their shifts are a lot longer. Beside that, they have to stoically endure the "advances" of the pretty female students, who tease them, invite them to parties, and occasionally endeavor to pop candy into their mouths.

"We aren't interested in that (police) cordon", said Cedomir Jovanovic, one of the student leaders, while addressing his fellow colleagues from the "studentmobile". "This isn't a question of our obstinacy, but rather a whim of the people who are maintaining this state in order to cover up their criminal activities. We have decided to go to the very end." Upon hearing those words, the policemen in the cordon just looked at each other. Jovanovic asked the citizens to bring warm beverages and food, and by the way asked them not to bring sweets but, as he said, "something substantial".

Judging by the words of the future doctor Laza Mudzala from the Student Emergency Medical Center (SUMC) who has in cooperation with the School of Medicine, been organized by the people from the private clinic Anlave, there is no reason to believe that the students shall shortly start collapsing from hunger or exhaustion. "For now the students mainly feel all right", says Mudzalo, adding that on average there are only two-three cases of collapse per day. "That usually happens around five or six am. We carry them into the tent, place them on the cot, put their feet up so that blood could surge into their head and give them something sweet to eat. We didn't have a single serious case so far, apart from Igor Lozanovski, who was beaten by the police on Terazije yesterday with injuries inflicted to his head". Lozanovski was later admitted into the Emergency Center and he was discharged after help was administered.

"I feel great", says Bojan Radun, an eighteen-year-old student of architecture. "We shall definitely endure an hour or two longer than them", he says, pointing towards the police. Radun claims that the student protest has influenced the relations between the students and professors making it much clearer now. "It can plainly be seen who's who now, since the professors who care about their schools are here with us, while those others are at home, preparing to hear the prime-time state TV newscast", he says. He is somewhat unsatisfied by the response of the colleagues from the interior, who have, according to his words, mainly used the protest as an excuse to return to their home town.

The wind brought a certain degree of tension into the atmosphere around half past six, blowing smoke from the bonfire which the students had lit in order to keep warm straight into the faces of the policemen, which made them frown and squirm. Following a short consultation with student security, the fire was put out, so that a bonfire could shortly be lit again further back from the "blue boys". Even prior to this, the singer Dusan Prelevic appeared amongst the students, who, followed by smiles, managed to convince the policemen twice to let him pass through the police cordon, showing in such a way that the police blockade is not impenetrable.