In elementary school “20. October” and still extraordinary

The situation in Elementary School “20. October” still does not calm down. The sending of threatening messages has not been stopped, but all necessary measures have been taken to protect students and employees, stated the principal of the eight-year-old school, Branislav Nedeljković, in a letter sent to the students’ parents on Sunday evening. Another threatening message arrived during the weekend to the e-mail addresses of some employees.

“Immediately after receiving the message, the duty service of the MUP, the Department for High-tech Crime, PS Novi Beograd and the Ministry of Education were notified. All institutions have taken pre-arranged steps in checking the degree of danger, protecting people and objects, revealing the addresses of the senders and organizing support for parents and employees”, said the director.

A dozen members of the special unit, with the assistance of two trained dogs and the use of appropriate techniques, conducted a detailed counter-sabotage inspection of the school.

“It was established that there is nothing suspicious in the school. This procedure had already been agreed upon at the Parents’ Council, regardless of whether or not the threatening messages arrived. After the inspection, the school was closed,” the director said.

The school was also inspected yesterday morning before classes started.

“In support of parents, a team from the Institute of Mental Health, trained in crisis situations, will hold a forum on Thursday. It is also planned that people from the Department for Human and Minority Rights will talk to the employees between the two shifts. Everyone is making maximum efforts to mitigate the consequences and resolve the situation. I can’t promise you anything else except that I will fight with all my might to make us feel safer together and that I will keep you informed about everything as before”, said the director in the message.

After all, the parents of the students of this school are divided in their views regarding the safety of their children, which is why some of the students still do not go to school. On that occasion, as we learned, a meeting of the authorities was organized yesterday in order to agree on further steps.

Let’s remind, elementary school “20. oktobar” in New Belgrade has been the target of several threats of attacks and reports of planted bombs, which turned out to be false, in the past few weeks.