Huge crowds of opposition demonstrators rallied in Belgrade at the sixth ‘Serbia Against Violence’ protest, accusing President Aleksandar Vucic’s government of nurturing a culture of violent impunity in the country.
Thousands of demonstrators rallied in front of the Serbian government building in Belgrade on Friday evening at the sixth of the weekly ‘Serbia Against Violence’ protests that were initially sparked by two mass shootings in May.
Some protesters arrived carrying cardboard figures dressed in prison suits, depicting President Aleksandar Vucic, PM Ana Brnabic, the owner of the pro-Government tabloid Informer, Dragan Vucicevic, the president of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media, Olivera Zekic, and the owner of the pro-Government TV Pink, Zeljko Mitrovic.
The protesters had marched to the government building through the city centre after initially gathering in front of the National Assembly building.
Their main demands relate to the ‘culture of violence’ that they claim has thrived in the media and politics during Vucic’s rule, and which they believe contributed to the two mass shootings that claimed the lives of 17 people in Serbia in May.
They are calling for the replacement of the governing council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media and the dismissal of the heads of the Serbian Public Broadcasting Service, for print media and tabloid newspapers promoting hatred and violence and breaching journalistic ethics to be shut down, for the frequencies of the pro-government Pink and Happy TV stations to be revoked, and for reality television shows that depict violence to be banned.
They are also calling for the removal or resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic and the head of the Security Intelligence Agency, Aleksandar Vulin.
The protest had the theme of ‘education’, and before the march, the crowd was addressed by law professor Miodrag Jovanovic, Belgrade teacher Marina Vidojevic and philosophy student Vanja Djurdjic. Various well-known Serbian actors also addressed the protesters.
Serbian language teacher Marina Vidojevic from Belgrade stated that a month ago, our society realized that the school system cannot protect either the students or the teachers.
“Today, we understand that the reason for this is that the school is insignificant to those in power. And it’s not just the school that they consider insignificant. We, as educators, are unimportant, irrelevant, and unappreciated in their eyes. The truth is that we are invisible,” she emotionally expressed.
Source: Balkan Insight