Serbia has not seen demonstrations of this scale since the massive popular protests that led to the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic more than two decades ago.
Tens of thousands of people organized an anti-government demonstration in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, calling on President Aleksandar Vucic, Interior Minister Bratislav Jasic and other senior officials to resign.
Earlier this week, the president promised to hold early parliamentary elections in an attempt to defuse the protests, which are being organized under the slogan “Serbia against violence”, but the opposition rejected this step because “Vucic’s grip extends to all the country’s institutions, including the main media.” .
Following shootings into a crowd in two separate incidents that left 18 people dead at the beginning of May, mass demonstrations erupted in Belgrade, initially as an expression of mourning, but which morphed into a broad movement of anger against the government led by the Serbian Progressive Party.
The demonstrators blamed the culture of violence for the deaths, which critics say the authorities have allowed to permeate society. They also called for canceling the licenses of two television stations close to the government, which they said “tolerate and promote a climate of violence and glorify criminal elements in society.”
