The opposition is not silent, Vucic is “not running away”: What is the epilogue of the protests in Serbia?

Mass protests against violence in Belgrade, as well as gatherings in other cities, were framed by President Vučić’s TV appearances. There are accusations of who is actually “abusing” the two tragedies.

After a rainy morning, a crowd gathered on Monday evening in front of the National Assembly for one of the biggest protests of the Aleksandar Vucic era.

At the rally – in fact, a more silent procession – citizens were accompanied by labels saying that they were “grazing over dead children for political points”, as the authorities and the media claimed these days.

“I walk because people here are sad anyway, so they don’t have to think about whether the system will fail if something like this happens to them”, says Ana Pavić (33) as she walks pregnant towards the Government with her husband and two children.

What went wrong? “Everything. The judiciary. Compassion. Everything. Finally, we have to do something”, he says after a week with two mass murders, at Vračar and in the Mladenovac area.

Zoran Pisarić (56), a craftsman, says he did not come to the party rally.

“This is a protest of people with common sense, people with brains. I am fed up with this weird government.”

Demands delivered

A number of political parties, from left-leaning to nationalist, called for a “Protest against Violence”, demanding the replacement of the heads of ministries, the BIA, the body that controls the electronic media, the revocation of the licences of some TV stations, as well as a ban on reality shows.

There were also protests in other cities, from a massive rally in Novi Sad to smaller towns where the protest was barely organised and attracted only a handful of curious people, writes Deutsche Welle.

“We are here because we cannot wait any longer. We have waited too long, we have been silent for too long”, said a teacher reading a joint proclamation to the Serbian government into a microphone. There were no other speeches, while there was only one chant of “Vucic, resign!”

Some, such as POKS and Zavetnik, refrained from protesting because “it is not the time”.

The opposition is not silent, Vucic is “not running away”

Even the top of the government is convinced that it is not yet time. The Belgrade committees of the Serbian Progressive Party issued a series of statements on the day of mourning, with the ruling party’s witchcraft committee declaring that the opposition has “caricatural mental abilities” and that it is “an impersonal evil, immersed in distorted ambitions”, which “is exploiting this national tragedy for its own personal interest”. “.

Đorđe Pavićević, MP, says, “The authorities want a monopoly on how to talk, avoiding conversation and anything that could help solve the problem.”

“People who disagree with this policy cannot be silenced. They believe that someone has to take responsibility, bypassing the ‘internet’ and the ‘western values’ that have been blamed in previous days,” Pavićević added to DW.

President Aleksandar Vucic has tried to frame the protest with television appearances – four from Wednesday. On Sunday, he promised a sharp response on RTS, but after the protest he left it for “Ćirilica” on Happy TV.

Vucic considered that the rally “abused people’s feelings in the most brutal way”. “Of all the proposals, everything boiled down to a bland policy. Not once has the future of our children been taken care of. I expected some seriousness and responsibility,” he added.

The President announced without elaboration the SNS rally, which would be attended by many more than the opposition rally, and hinted at the possibility of new elections.

“Should we run away from cowards? I have dedicated my life to this country. We will not retreat. We will go to the polls again. They do not seem to me to be a good solution, but we will never run away from them. People are disgusted by such actions, they just don’t understand it,” Vucic told on Happy TV.

Accusations from all sides

Over the weekend, some media close to the government reported that Vucic was preparing a major cut as a reaction to the tragedy and that the only question was whether he, the government or both of them would resign, which would immediately lead to new elections in Serbia.

In the end, nothing has come of it, at least for the time being. The resignation of the Socialist Minister for Education, Branko Ružić, a few days after the school massacre could remain the only political consequence of the tragedies.

Ružić is also the rare ruling politician who has visited any of the sites of the bloody shootings. Neither Vucic nor Prime Minister Ana Brnabic have stopped by the “Vladislav Ribnikar” school, where people usually wait for two hours amidst the wax of candles and thousands of white flowers to sign the mourning book.

Mayor Aleksandar Šapić organised a wreath-laying ceremony in front of the Stari Dvor, where his office is located, but few citizens turned up. After all, the “Vladislav Ribnikar” school is only three hundred metres away.

For the time being, the tragedies do not seem to be leading to any national catharsis, but rather to anger and division.

The victims have not even been buried yet, the wounded are still in a serious condition, and many fingers are being pointed at the alleged perpetrators. For some it is video games and TikTok, for others it is a departure from religion, for others it is patriarchal society and the denial of the crimes of the 1990s.

Is there any reason to protest?

However, under the influence of the protests and Vučić’s speeches, the pendulum seems to be swinging mainly between the accusations of the government and the opposition. Isn’t that a game where various politicians risk being vultures?

According to political scientist Dušan Lj. Milenković’s story of “grazing on corpses for political points” does not occur to anyone but the authorities. “The authorities are trying to limit the damage and are losing its way.

Milenkovic thinks that this is the reason for the protest. “We had a recent history of reflexive reactions of society, where the opposition trotted after the citizens, with anger and frustration. And now, in a way, she came out ahead for the first time in recent times,” he recalls.

This Belgrade-based political analyst adds for DW that the Vucic government is of course not solely responsible, but above all not to blame, for the perpetrators’ bloody march.

“But humans have a natural tendency to look for the culprit, because they are defeated and cannot shake off fear. In systems where power virtually controls life and death, it is logical that it is blamed as the biggest culprit.”

Vučić has obviously left space until the end of May, when, as announced, his party’s assembly will be in session. There are rumors of “far-reaching” decisions, although in the past such decisions were either absent or limited to extraordinary elections.

A bigger rally on Friday?

Political insiders say that, as always, when something important happens in the country, there is a machine at work behind the scenes to gauge public opinion and that Vucic will manage the decision accordingly.

Among critics of the government – including Vračar, where the tragedy took place – there are whispers that this could be a drop over the edge.

But Milenkovic is not so sure. “We have had a series of relatively unsuccessful protests, but they have not shaken the regime in any way. It seems to me that this time it will be the same.”

However, the authorities were given until Friday (May 12) to fulfill the demands read in the proclamation. If this does not happen, citizens from all over Serbia are invited to come to Belgrade.

As DW has learned from the opposition, there is still no clear idea of what that new protest would look like. Some talk about roadblocks, others about a gathering at the television Pink building, others think it’s wisest to take a dignified walk once more./DW/