Global Courant
Tens of thousands demonstrate in Belgrade calling for interior minister to resign after deadly mass shootings.
Tens of thousands of Serbs joined an anti-government protest in Belgrade for the sixth time since May 3, blaming the deaths of 18 people in two mass shootings on a culture of violence and calling for the interior minister to resign to act.
Singing “(Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic out!” and with a large banner reading ‘Students Against Violence’, the demonstrators gathered in front of parliament on Friday and marched to the government building.
Belgrade and some other Serbian cities have seen mass demonstrations since two deadly shootings in early May that left 18 people dead and 20 others injured, including primary school students. Friday’s protest was the sixth in the Serbian capital since the killings.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of Serbia’s interior minister, Bratislav Gasic, and the chief of the secret service, Aleksandar Vulin, whom they accuse of failing to bring criminal groups to justice.
“We can’t give back the lives of the victims, but we can make sure this doesn’t happen again,” actor Milan Maric said as he addressed the crowd. “We want Serbia without violence, Serbia with hope.”
The demonstrators also called for the revocation of national broadcasting licenses for television channels Pink TV and Happy TV and a ban on some tabloids they say promote violence.
“I expect the protest to continue, because there is no other way,” said one of the demonstrators, who gave her name as Milica. “I think at some point the government will have to admit, this is a large number of people and eventually they will have to give in to this pressure.”
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday that he was ready to resign and invited the opposition parties – which have supported the protests – for dialogue. But protest leaders have said they will not talk to the government until all their demands are met.
Vucic has said his government is not at fault.
“Is the government responsible for crimes that have happened? I can’t accept that,” he told Reuters on Friday.
Serbia has a deep-rooted gun culture and, like the rest of the Western Balkans, is awash with military-grade weapons and ammunition in private hands after the wars of the 1990s that tore apart the former Yugoslavia. However, mass shootings are rare.
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