Protests in Serbia – will the president resign
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has stepped up preparations for a new election campaign amid heated disputes in the country over the security situation and the authorities' ability to stop violence propaganda.
Deutsche Welle reported.
Observers spoke about the intensification of political confrontation after two armed attacks, where 17 people were killed and more than 20 injured. On May 3, for the first time in its history, Serbia experienced a mass shooting of school students in Belgrade by a teenager, and the next day a 21-year-old criminal opened fire on passers-by near Mladenovac.
These tragedies brought tens of thousands of citizens to the streets under the slogan "Serbia Against Violence". They have demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gašić and the Director of the key intelligence agency - the Security Information Agency, Aleksandar Vulin, as well as the dissolution of the Government's Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media Committee (REM) and the closure of pro-government tabloids and TV channels Pink and Hepi due to propaganda of violent and vulgar content. The new rally, organized by several Democratic opposition parties, is scheduled for May 19, 2023.
Vučić, on the one hand, made a bet on strengthening security measures, the main one of which was the campaign to seize illegal weapons from the population, accumulated since the armed conflicts of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia (it is estimated that their number may exceed one million units). On the other hand, the Serbian leader, according to local media, promises to hold early elections in September, and at the same time "prevent "Maidan", which allegedly threatens Serbia.
Opposition parties and human rights activists have accused Vučić and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party of autocracy, media suppression, violence against political opponents, corruption, and links to organized crime for years. Recent tragedies have only expanded the list of complaints. Vučić himself, according to observers, is trying to turn mass shootings into a conversation about himself and threats to the state. He calls representatives of the opposition "vultures and hyenas", accusing them of trying to illegally seize power.
Belgrade experts interviewed by DW have no illusions about Vučić's willingness to comply with the protesters' demands. Belgrade political commentator Philip Schwarm believes that Vučić is talking about early elections these days in order to shift the attention of citizens dissatisfied with the violence to relations between the government and the opposition, that is, to the political game. But in reality, he explains to DW, "this is primarily not about politics, but about citizens' concern about what Serbian society has become, and it is increasingly like a pressure cooker without a valve, in which hatred and violence are bubbling."
As for the threat of "Maidan", which Vučić refers to by analogy with the Ukrainian events, according to Schwarm, "this is ordinary propaganda and political intrigues": he simply plays along with right-wing and Russophile circles. It is too early to say that these protests can become a catalyst for any major changes. "Citizens' anger and demands for change can last for a long time, or they can stop in a few weeks," Schwartz notes.
"Maidan in Serbia is impossible, because there are no similarities between the Serbian and Ukrainian contexts," Bojan Klačar, Executive Director of the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), said in an interview with DW. He explains Vučić's desire for early election for two reasons. One of them is related to the possible aggravation of problems in the negotiations with Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Vučić wanted to hold an election before a possible escalation. In addition, a short and fast election campaign will allow the ruling party to restore political power and prevent the possibility of serious political changes, Klačar explains.
Earlier, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić claimed that Serbia is "suffering a lot" by refusing to impose sanctions against Russia. And despite the fact that if they were imposed, "life would be ten times better," Serbia will avoid this step as long as possible.
According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko, Ukraine expects a clearer position of Serbia as a candidate for EU membership in condemning Russian aggression and to join EU sanctions.
Recall that on May 10, the European Parliament approved a report on Serbia, in which it repeated the country's call to join sanctions against Russia as a condition for further movement to the European Union.