In the city of Zajecar, workers are cutting the cables of cable operator Jotel across the city, reportedly due to the company’s alleged debt to the state-owned Telekom. Jotel broadcasts N1 TV’s program, and this action is being carried out right before a major student protest in the city.
Crews from the power company, Telekom, and Jotel are out on the ground. Workers on-site told N1 that similar cable cuts are also planned in the cities of Nis and Vranje.
Sources that spoke to N1 claim the real reason behind the cuts is that Jotel is the only operator broadcasting the N1 TV program.
The cable cuts come just before a student protest in Zajecar scheduled for Saturday, titled “Freedom Starts in the East.” The protest aims to “wake up abstaining voters” ahead of local elections in Zajecar and Kosjeric on June 8. For days, students have been walking, running, and biking toward Zajecar, with their arrival expected on Friday evening.
As a result of the cuts, Jotel customers in Zajecar will lose access to television, internet, and landline services.
This is not the first time cables have been cut over supposed debts. Back in late April, Electric Power Distribution Company workers in Nis severed cables for several TV operators, including Jotel, all of which broadcast N1. Similarly, cables of KBS, a cable provider in Vrsac that also carried N1, were cut in the village of Padina near Kovacica. The same thing happened in Kovacica itself around the same time.
Source: N1
