Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, is under fire for creating divisions in Serbia which recently culminated in mass shootings.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through Belgrade on Friday after two shootings left 17 people dead and 21 wounded earlier this month. On May 3rd, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s gun to open fire at his school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital.
Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe when it comes to the number of guns per capita, many of them left over from the wars in the 1990s. Anti-gun measures imposed after the shootings include a ban on new gun licences, stricter controls on gun owners and shooting ranges, and tougher punishments for the illegal possession of weapons.
President Vucic dismissed the political interests behind the march as ‘abusing the tragedy’ while state media described the march as ‘hooliganism.’ The President stated that more than 9,000 weapons had been handed in since police announced a one-month amnesty for people to surrender unregistered guns and ammunition. He has also called his own rally of solidarity on May 26 in Belgrade which, he said, will be the “biggest ever.”
CENTRAL EASTERN EUROPE NEWS
Thousands March In Belgrade After Serbian Mass Shootings
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