“A drug den, a hotbed of Satanism, and a place for debauchery of all kinds”

Statement by the students involved in the liberation of the SKC in Belgrade, in response to recent statements by the SKC leadership

On March 19, 2026, the program “Dan uživo” on TV N1 addressed the ongoing postponement of the reopening of the Student Cultural Center (SKC) in Belgrade and the lack of a program since August 2025 (since the SKC was evicted *). Following this report, an announcement for a planned exhibition appeared a few days later on the SKC’s official channels and website. This is apparently intended to suggest the existence of some kind of program, and subsequently, the current SKC leadership published a justification for the lack of programming at the cultural center, full of the most abhorrent insults toward the students.

The statement reads, among other things:

“During the blockade of the SKC building, the blockaders turned the premises into: a drug den, a hotbed of Satanism, and a place for debauchery of all kinds as well as for immoral and illegal activities.

During the blockade, the blockaders completely destroyed and looted the SKC. They stole: equipment, technology, documents, works of art, furniture, all storage media, the telephone switchboard, the movie screen, computers, printers, monitors, laptops, cameras, tables, chairs ... They destroyed: a piano, the video surveillance system, the internet, galleries, halls, offices, the heating system, the fire alarm system, the locks on all rooms… the list is virtually endless…”

We do not need to respond to this virtually endless list of lies with a counterstatement. We do not need a counterstatement—we have a program behind us that brought joy to thousands of citizens, students, and young people; we have an archive of posters and photos. While the current SKC leadership is spreading biased lies about stolen items, it is still holding onto the confiscated personal belongings and all the equipment that students brought into this cultural institution thanks to donations from citizens and that were left behind after the SKC, under student coordination, was cleared out.

Likewise, the text states that “claims regarding an alleged privatization, sale, or commercialization of the space are completely unfounded and have been made without the slightest evidence,” even though there has been a proposal since 2017 to merge the SKC with the Students' City Cultural Centre, coupled with the idea of renting out the SKC building.

The current government and its henchmen have for years been pushing for the privatization, commercialization, or complete demolition of culturally and historically significant buildings, but above all for the abolition of the laws that protect them, as was attempted in the case of the General Staff Building with the Lex specialis.[1] Shortly after the Lex specialis was passed, an expansion was proposed for the cultural-historical complex around Knez Mihailova Street, which includes the General Staff Building. This would also have lifted the protection of the Officers’ Club—i.e., today’s Student Cultural Center—which would certainly have facilitated commercial maneuvers. We should also remember that the city of Novi Sad has taken over the premises of the Academy of Arts, thereby jeopardizing the teaching activities and the survival of this institution of higher arts education.

We know that you will not stop, and we know that you know no bounds, but we will not give up, because if you take our culture from us, if you take our public goods from us, if you take our education from us, you also enslave our spirit and the freedom of future creativity, the freedom of thought, freedom itself—and we must not allow you to do that.

And so we will defend the autonomy of the university, the autonomy of culture, the autonomy of scholarly and creative work, for as long as it is necessary. For you will defend nothing but your own pitiful, dusty, worn-out armchairs and your bulging pockets.

* As a reminder: Between February 12 and July 22, 2025, the students organized a program almost every day: In the hands of the students, the SKC carried out a serious, competent, and well-developed program over a period of just over 150 days, all with the help of donations, gifts, and loans from citizens who supported the goal: spaces for students and the revitalization of a center for youth expression.

11 issues of the SKC-Lista

SKC Internet Radio with more than 25 broadcasts

BlokadniFEST

Beldocs April Meeting with International Participation

Game Jam

Fashion Show

Festum Festival

Celebration of the SKC’s 54th anniversary

8 workshops (poetry, printmaking, calligraphy, origami, silk acrobatics, Bujutsu philosophy, process drama, fresco painting)

1 musical

1 play

1 contemporary circus performance

103 film screenings

32 music concerts of all genres featuring 99 groups

15 art performances

11 exhibitions

34 educational discussions on relevant social issues

3 video game tournaments

Numerous humanitarian initiatives

s. also: https://transversal.at/blog/skc-u-blokadi_en