The demonstrators gathered this Monday in front of the Parliament, in Belgrade, at the call of several opposition parties of left and right, behind the slogan “Serbia against violence”.
Several tens of thousands of people marched this Monday evening in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, to demand the resignations of political leaders and against the promotion of violence in the media, a few days after two shootings which left 17 dead, in particular in a school.
Requested resignation of political leaders
“We are here because we cannot wait any longer. We have waited too long, we have been silent for too long, we have turned our heads for too long,” Marina Vidojevic, a Serbian teacher in a primary school.
“We want safe schools, streets, villages and cities for all children,” she added.
The demonstrators then left in the direction of the seat of government. In their call to demonstrate, broadcast by the leftist party “Ne Da(vi)mo Beograd” (“Let’s not drown Belgrade”), opposition parties demand “an immediate end to the promotion of violence in the media and in the public space (…) and the resignation” of political leaders, in particular the Minister of the Interior and the head of the intelligence services, accused of inaction.
“Cataclysmic Tragedy”
The departure of the Minister of Education, Branko Ruzic, was initially among the demands, but the latter resigned on Sunday, presenting his condolences to the families of the victims of a “cataclysmic tragedy”.
The opposition is also calling for the suppression of reality TV programs that “promote violence, immorality and aggressiveness” and the closure of pro-government newspapers which they accuse of disseminating “false information” with the aim of hurt political opponents.
“This climate was created by the system (in place), concretely the ‘first man’ is at the root of this Serbian misfortune,” Radovan Bojicic, a 67-year-old pensioner, told AFP, referring to President Aleksandar. Vucic, whose demonstrators also demanded the departure.
Serbia shocked by two shootings
Several leaders of the Serbian Progress Party (SNS, conservatives), Aleksandar Vucic, accused the opposition of “politicizing” the two killings to attack the head of state and the government.
Serbia has been shocked by two shootings in the past week in less than 48 hours. In the first, a thirteen-year-old schoolboy opened fire on Wednesday at a school in Belgrade, killing eight classmates and a security guard. Then, on Thursday, a 21-year-old young man killed eight people with an automatic rifle in two villages south of Belgrade.
After these shootings, the Serbian president promised to launch a large-scale disarmament plan. According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS) research project, 39% of people in Serbia own a firearm, the highest rate in Europe.
