Tens of thousands of Serbs protest in Belgrade against escalating violence and for President Vucic's resignation
According to the AP agency, protesters are holding signs with the images of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Sapic, and the Director of the Security Intelligence Agency Aleksandar Vulin in prison uniforms. They are protesting against the killings and calling for the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic.
Dozens of anti-government protesters have taken to the streets in Belgrade and other Serbian cities, promising to "radicalize" the peaceful protests that have been ongoing for seven weeks. Demonstrators in Belgrade have blocked the city's main thoroughfare. Similar actions took place across the country last weekend too.
In early June, the President of Serbia already promised early parliamentary elections, apparently trying to alleviate the growing public dissatisfaction with his rule. However, most opposition parties have refused to participate in the elections, as Vucic tightly controls almost all levers of power, including major media outlets.
The protests initially erupted in response to two series of killings in early May. In those incidents, 18 people were killed and 20 were injured in shootings, many of them young people.
The two shootings on May 3rd and 4th shocked the nation, especially since the first one occurred in an elementary school in central Belgrade, where a 13-year-old boy took his father's gun and opened fire on his classmates. Eight students and a school guard were killed, and seven others were injured. Later, another girl died in the hospital from head injuries.
The next day, a 20-year-old man used automatic weapons to randomly target people in two villages south of Belgrade, killing eight and injuring 14.
Protesters demanded the resignation of high-ranking officials in Serbia's security service and the revocation of broadcasting licenses for pro-government media and tabloids that regularly broadcast violent content.
Protesters believe that state-controlled media are responsible for the culture of violence that has been prevalent in Serbia since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, which claimed the lives of over 100,000 people.
Vucic, a former ultranationalist who actively participated in the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, now claims to want to bring Serbia into the European Union. However, he has stated that he will never agree to the opposition's demand to resign. He called the protest leaders "hyenas" who want him and his family dead.
One of the protest leaders, Aleksandar Jovanovic, stated that the demonstrations would continue and promised to further "radicalize" them by blocking roads and government buildings throughout Serbia. "Serbia will stop," he said. "We must cleanse this poison."
Earlier, The Gaze reported on another hot spot in Serbian politics – Belgrade's attempts to maintain control over the independent country of Kosovo.