A group of Belgraders organised on Saturday a rally in support of N1, saying that the fact that this TV channel was not distributed via the main state Telekom Srbija cable provider was an attack on public interest, and they asked the Europeans to help them achieve the values which democracies were based on, N1 reported.

People carried blue balloons with N1 written on them and banners in support of the TV, reading #letn1beseen (#dasevidin1).

Biljana Stojkovic, a university professor, said that half of Serbia was drugged and compared the situation in the country with the ‘Brave New World’, a novel by English author Aldous Huxley from 1931.

“The drugs are (pro-regime media) Pink TV, (public broadcaster) RTS, tabloids Informer and Alo… And the dealer of those drugs is (Serbia’s President) Aleksandar Vucic,” she said. 

 “We cannot see the real Serbia because of the media drugs they give us.”

“The master (Vucic) knows too well that his rule is based on the media drugs, that his rule is a colourful balloon without content and that it can burst any time. Free media are his most dangerous enemy, and he knows it,” Stojkovic said.

She asked people whether they would hear about a series of affairs involving authorities and those close to them if there were no few free media, including N1 TV.

“The solidarity is our power, always bear that in mind, and that’s why we support N1,” Stojkovic said.

Professor Cedomir Cupic of the Faculty of Political Sciences said the people gathered because they did not want to be deprived of watching N1 TV. “This is yet another brutal attempt to blindfold us, to clog our ears to truthful, correct and unbiased information,” Cupic said.

He added that “this move by Aleksandar Vucic and his closest allies from the executive power was an attack on the universal values – the truth and freedom. Without them, there is no good information, nor there is a dignified life.”

Cupic said that N1 TV was “a single candle for those who fight to see and hear the truth and objectivity. They want to put down that flame. We are here to save it and to use it to bring light in Serbia media darkness,” he added.

Cupic said he was surprised with “a mild and restrained warning to Vucic and Serbia’s government,” coming from the Europeans and he asked them to help Serbia achieve the values that the democratic world was based on.

Filip Mladenovic, a journalist, said that at the beginning of 2020 “we have a single free TV – N1 and one free daily and three to four free weeklies.”

“We are not defending here only one free television which has taken a role of Serbia’s public broadcaster; we are defending normality and common sense,” he said.