(Belgrade) Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Belgrade on Friday to demand the resignation of senior officials and the regulation of violent content in the media following two mass killings.
This is the third time in a fortnight that people have taken to the streets in large numbers after the shootings that have sown terror in the small Balkan country.
On May 3, a 13-year-old boy was accused of murdering nine students and a guard at the school he attended in central Belgrade.
Less than 48 hours later, the Balkan country was shaken by a new shooting, when a 21-year-old man shot dead eight people in villages near Belgrade.
“We are shocked, we cannot understand, we are angry,” Jelena Mihajlovic told the crowd gathered in front of parliament. “It’s a question we all ask ourselves: what country are we going to leave to our children? »
These are the biggest protests in more than two decades, when people took to the streets in droves to bring down the country’s strongman, Slobodan Milosevic.
The protesters are calling for the revocation of the licenses of television channels that broadcast violent programs, as well as the banning of pro-government newspapers that stir up tensions.
The demonstrators also demand the resignation of the Serbian Minister of the Interior and the head of the intelligence services, and call on the Parliament to meet in extraordinary session to discuss the reaction of the authorities to the shootings.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic calls the demonstrations a “political” coup and announced a counter-demonstration of his supporters for May 26 which he says will be “the largest rally in Serbian history”.
After the killings, he had promised a plan for large-scale disarmament of the population. According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS) research project, 39% of people in Serbia own a firearm, the highest rate in Europe.