BELGRADE, SERBIA (AP) – Tens of thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital on Saturday for a fifth time in a month, following two mass shootings that shook the nation, even as the country’s populist president rejected any responsibility for the crisis and ignored the protesters’ demands to step down.
The crowd, chanting slogans against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, marched through the capital, Belgrade, to gather in front of his downtown headquarters. They released a large balloon with the inscription “Vucic Go Away”.
University students led the march, holding a banner that read “Serbia against violence!”
The opposition protesters have been demanding the resignations of senior government officials and the revocation of broadcasting licenses for television networks which, they say, promote violence and glorify crime figures.
The protest on Saturday, likely to be the biggest one so far, was somewhat different from the ones before. Independent journalists covering the march saw right-wing groups infiltrating the march to promote their nationalist agenda.
Analysts said some of these groups have close ties to Serbia’s security service. There were reports of ultranationalist supporters attacking a foreign journalist with a baton.
As daylight faded, participants lit up their mobile phones, holding them aloft as they marched through a central Belgrade street and past the presidency building, many blowing whistles and called for Vucic’s resignation.
Protesters left hundreds of messages for Vucic written on pieces of paper by the presidency, many of them calling on him to resign. A new protest is planned for next week, in what is becoming an increasingly serious challenge to Vucic, perhaps the biggest one he has faced since coming to power 11 years ago.
The opposition has accused Vucic of fueling intolerance and hate speech during his increasingly autocratic rule, while illegally seizing control of all state institutions.
