The demonstration, which resembles an election campaign rally, is seen as the government’s response to demonstrations that gather tens of thousands of people each week.
Thousands of Serbs demonstrated in Belgrade this Friday in support of President Aleksandar Vucic, two and a half weeks after the two shootings that killed 18 people.
The demonstration this Friday, which resembled an electoral campaign meeting, under the slogan “Serbia of hope”, is seen as the government’s response to the demonstrations that gather tens of thousands of people weekly.
“I trust the people who run this country and that’s why I’m here,” one of the protesters, 82-year-old Branko Marovic, told AFP. The last time Serbs marched en masse was in 2000.during the protests that led to the fall of Belgrade strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
Aleksandar Vucic announced for this Friday night “the largest meeting in history” of Serbia, a country of 6.6 million inhabitants that is negotiating its accession to the European Union.
Be “a rally in which we will try to unite Serbia and show that it has a future”said the head of state in a video uploaded to Instagram.
Since this Friday morning, crowds of people have gathered in Belgrade, coming from all over Serbia, by train and bus. However, human rights organizations and the press say some were pressured to participate.
The demonstration takes place in front of the Serbian Parliament, in the center of the capital, where a large avenue has been closed to traffic, as well as surrounding streets.
“I am only interested in Serbia. I live for Serbia”It is read in the posters that adorned dozens of stalls installed in the area, along with a portrait of Aleksandar Vucic.
Opposition protests, both on the right and on the left, began shortly after the two shootings in early May that rocked the country.
In the first, nine students and a guard were killed in a Belgrade school by a 13-year-old student. Less than 48 hours later, a young man killed eight people in two towns near Belgrade.
Under the slogan “Serbia against violence”, the demonstrators demand the resignation of the Minister of the Interior and the head of the intelligence services and protest against the violent content of the pro-government press. Since then, the head of state He accused the opposition of “abusing” the situation “for political purposes.”
Source: Observadora
