Balkan nations have not seen so many people in years. Behind a banner reading “Serbia Against Violence”, they marched through the heart Belgrade.
Borivoje plcevic from Belgrade said: “We’re here to pay respect and make sure this doesn’t happen anywhere else.”
A student brought two guns into school on Wednesday and killed eight students as well as a security guard. Six students and one teacher were also injured.
A 21-year-old man with a pistol, an assault rifle and a shotgun killed eight people the next day and injured fourteen others.
Both shooters surrendered to the police.
The protesters, the opposition and others have demanded that tabloids and television stations be shut down for allegedly promoting violent and vulgar content.
Some opposition parties and rights groups accuse Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, of autocracy. They also claim that he has used violence to suppress political opponents. The groups also say that Vucic’s populist Serbian Progressive Party is corrupt and linked to organised crime. Vucic and his allies deny the allegations.
Vucic said that protesters attempted to force him from office on Monday, and destabilize the nation. He said he was willing to test his party’s popularity in a fast vote, but did not specify the date.
He said, “I’ll work hard and won’t give in to the mob or the street ….We will see if it is (snap elections)” during a television broadcast.
In 2026, Serbia is scheduled to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.
Protesters called for the resignation of Bratislav Gásic, the Interior Minister, as well as Aleksandar Vulin, the Director of State Security, within a week. They also demanded the dismissal of the Regulatory Committee for Electronic Media of the Government.
Branko BrankoRuzic, education minister, has resigned on Sunday, 7 May.
Demonstrators demanded an urgent session of parliament and a discussion on the current security situation.
Snezana stated that it is an act of “solidarity against… violence in media, in Parliament, in everyday life… Solidarity for lost children”. Snezana was a woman in her 60s who refused to disclose her last name.
Similar protests were held in other Serbian towns.
Serbian police responded by launching an amnesty for a whole month on Monday, for those who surrendered illegal weapons. According to police, over 1,500 illegal firearms were handed in on the first day.
Vucic announced the police would check gun registrations.
Serbia has a strong gun culture, thanks to the wars of the 1990s that tore apart the former Yugoslavia.
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