{"id":90208,"date":"2023-05-31T12:54:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T10:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kosovotwopointzero.com\/?p=90208"},"modified":"2023-06-22T11:37:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T09:37:57","slug":"is-there-any-hope-for-a-serbia-without-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.kosovotwopointzero.com\/en\/is-there-any-hope-for-a-serbia-without-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there any hope for a Serbia without violence?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Two mass killings spark some of the biggest Belgrade protests in two decades.<\/b><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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On the morning of May 3, Serbia was stunned by the news of a mass murder that happened in Belgrade\u2019s Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School. A 13-year-old seventh-grade student is suspected of having used his father’s pistol to kill eight schoolmates and a school guard. Six other students and a teacher were also wounded.<\/span><\/p>

A few days later, one of these injured students died in hospital, bringing the death toll to 10.<\/span><\/p>

On the evening of May 3, several thousand people spontaneously gathered at Flower Square \u2014 located near Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary \u2014 to pay their respects to the victims. Afterwards, the gathered people marched in protest towards the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development demanding that the responsible authorities resign. (Education Minister Branko Ru\u017ei\u0107 submitted his resignation on May 9.)<\/span><\/p>

The very next day, another mass murder happened.<\/span><\/p>

Late in the evening of May 4, according to the Smederevo Prosecutor’s Office, suspect U.B. killed eight people with an automatic weapon in the area of Smederevo and Mladenovac and attempted to kill 12 more.<\/span><\/p>

Alongside the escalation of violence represented by these two mass shootings, intimate partner violence and domestic violence have led to the murders of 18 women in Serbia between January and mid-May 2023. In response to these facts, and in anger at the government’s controversial reactions to the mass shootings and unprofessional media reports by pro-government tabloids and television, tens of thousands of Serbians have been protesting weekly throughout May under the slogan “Serbia Against Violence.”<\/span><\/p>

K2.0 explains where these protests came from and what (for the moment) has been the response of the Serbian government.<\/span><\/p>

Serbia Against Violence<\/b><\/p>

The first protest under the slogan \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d was held shortly after the two mass murders.<\/span><\/p>

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the center of Belgrade on May 8 and 12, while similar protests were taking shape across the country. A number of opposition parties voiced support for the protests.<\/span><\/p>

The government’s response to the mass shootings took a number of forms, including proposals to employ thousands of police officers as security in schools, leading to protests signs such as “Money to schools, not to the police.” The government also announced a plan for disarming Serbia and the president and prime minister toyed with reinstating the death penalty.<\/span><\/p>

Protesters’ de<\/span>mands included calls for the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Ga\u0161i\u0107 and Director of the Security Intelligence Agency Aleksandar Vulin. Protesters also called for the government to replace current members of the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, to shut down all tabloids that promote violence and infringe on journalism\u2019s code of ethics, to ban reality shows and to drop Serbia\u2019s leading reality TV channels Pink and Happy from national frequencies.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The third \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d protests. Photo: Mladen Savkovi\u0107 \/ K2.0.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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These protests, featuring crowds blocking Belgrade’s busiest roads \u2014 including the highway and the Gazela Bridge which is the most high-traffic bridge in the city over the Sava River \u2014 have been only sporadically covered by the public broadcaster Radio Television Serbia (RTS) and other television stations with nationwide coverage. Numerous online and print tabloids have reported on these developments from the perspective of government officials, giving an advantage to the government line on the protests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Immediately after the May 12 demonstration, President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 went on social media and posted a photograph of himself with Prime Minister Ana Brnabi\u0107 and Minister of Finance Sini\u0161a Mali. In a sneering caption alleging that footage of the protest was photoshopped in order to make it appear bigger than it actually was, Vu\u010di\u0107 announced that the ruling parties would organize a rally in Belgrade on May 26 with \u201cno faking and no photoshop.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This provoked a backlash and critics noted that the president was organizing a protest against people who protest against violence. An even stronger negative reaction came after a social media post from Prime Minister Brnabi\u0107 where she appeared to be mocking the thousands of people who blocked the Gazela Bridge earlier that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

In response to this reaction from the government, the next “Serbia Against Violence” protest became the largest yet. On Friday May 19, the largest in this series of demonstrations saw people marching for hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to some unofficial estimates, between 50,000 and 60,000 people showed up on May 19. The size of the protest drew the attention of international media. <\/span>Deutsche Welle<\/span><\/a> has referred to this series of demonstrations as the largest outcry Serbia has seen since October 5, 2000. <\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, <\/span>AP News<\/span><\/a> noted the Serbian Progressive Party\u2019s (SNS) counter-demonstration that was organized in Pan\u010devo on May 19. \u201cIn a show of defiance, the nationalist right-wing party of autocratic Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 organized a counter-protest in a town north of Belgrade attended by thousands of his supporters,\u201d AP News reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

A Serbia of Hope<\/b><\/p>\n

Instead of engaging with the protesters or considering the calls for resignations, the SNS and Vu\u010di\u0107 decided to proceed by organizing what they were calling the largest rally Serbia will have ever seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

This rally, \u201cA Serbia of Hope,\u201d was scheduled to take place on Friday, May 26 \u2014 on the same day another \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d protest was planned.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the following days, the media was filled with reports that employees of public institutions across Serbia were facing pressure from their superiors to attend the pro-government rally. For instance, more than 20 staff members of Ni\u0161’s municipal IT department were said to have been reassigned to different jobs after refusing to attend SNS’s May 26 rally in Belgrade. According to <\/span>N1<\/span><\/a>, this effectively shut down the department. There were also reports of mass transportation by bus and train being organized for people outside Belgrade to be taken to the government rally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Only a few days earlier, Ni\u0161 Mayor Dragana Sotirovski said that if the city government offices were to empty out on May 26 that would be \u201cno indication\u201d that the staff took an organized trip to the rally as the city government offices are empty some other days as well.  <\/span><\/p>\n

An increasing number of public figures voiced support for either one of the demonstrations or the other while many civil society organizations called for the president to cancel his rally.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> from a group of these organizations reads: \u201cThat people take to the streets of Belgrade in anger is very much warranted. They call for the government to provide them and their children with the bare minimum of security and bring violence to a halt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe government ought to respond,” the statement continues. “A massive anti-violence gathering of citizens must not be responded to via an even more massive gathering of some other citizens. What kind of message are the latter trying to send \u2014 that they are not against violence?\u201d    <\/span><\/p>\n

Two days, two Serbias<\/b><\/p>\n

In the early morning of Friday, May 26, buses from across the country began to arrive in Belgrade for the “Serbia of Hope” meet<\/span>ing from across Serbia as well as from Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kosovo Online<\/span><\/a> reported that around 10,000 Kosovo Serbs went to the rally \u2014 either individually or by one of 200 buses chartered for the occasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, <\/span>tensions escalated<\/span><\/a> in the north of Kosovo with clashes between Kosovo police and Serbs \u2014 and a few days later clashes between NATO soldiers from KFOR and Serbs \u2014 after a boycotted local election led to questions about who should control the municipality buildings.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cFrom tomorrow onwards, I will be the president of all Serbian citizens, rather than the president of a single political party,\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 said.\n<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Although Tanjug and other pro-government media reported that more than 200,000 people took part in SNS\u2019s rally, aerial footage and activists\u2019 estimates indicate that the number of attendees was much smaller than the number of people who took to the streets on May 19.<\/span><\/p>

In his address at the rally, whose numbers dwindled due to rain as the event went on, Vu\u010di\u0107 announced that he was stepping down as SNS\u2019s president.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cThis will be the last time I address you as the president of SNS. Starting tomorrow, someone else will lead my SNS, your SNS, our SNS, of which I shall remain a loyal member. However, from tomorrow onwards, I will be the president of all Serbian citizens, rather than the president of a single political party,\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

He also announced that SNS would be the axle of a new movement \u201cthat is going to be our base of support, helping us preserve our country in the forthcoming two to three years of crisis \u2014 the years which may decide Serbia\u2019s future.\u201d There was speculation that Vu\u010di\u0107 would take this opportunity to call for elections in the fall, but this did not happen.<\/span><\/p>

Vu\u010di\u0107 did not respond to the demands put forward by \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d and announced no measures that the government would potentially take in order to combat violence.<\/span><\/p>

On the following day, at the exact same location, the fourth \u201cSerbia Against Violence\u201d took place, drawing similar numbers as the previous protest and clearly outnumbering the pro-government rally of the day before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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