According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS) project, 39% of people in Serbia own a firearm, the highest rate in Europe.
Thousands of Serbs demonstrated Monday evening in Belgrade to demand the resignation of political leaders and an end to promoting violence in the media, days after two shootings killed 17 people, one of them at a school.
The demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament building in central Belgrade, at the invitation of several left- and right-wing opposition parties, under the slogan “Serbia against violence.”
In front of the crowd, teacher Marina Vidojević said, “We are here because we can no longer wait. We have waited too long, we have been silent for too long, we have turned a blind eye for too long.” “We want safe schools, streets, villages and cities for all children,” she added, before the demonstrators left for the government headquarters.
In their call for demonstrations, the opposition parties demanded an “immediate cessation of the promotion of violence in the media and in the public space… and the resignation,” a call addressed in particular to the Minister of Interior and the head of the Intelligence Service, who are accused of inaction.
The resignation of Education Minister Branko Rosic was among the demands, but the latter resigned on Sunday, offering his condolences to the families of the victims of the “catastrophic tragedy”.
The opposition is also calling for the banning of reality TV shows that “promote violence, immorality and aggression” and the closure of pro-government newspapers, which they accuse of spreading “false information” with the aim of harming political opponents.
For their part, many leaders of the conservative party led by President Aleksandar Vucic accused the opposition of “politicizing” the two shootings and targeting them to target the head of state and the established power.
Serbia witnessed two shocking shootings within forty-eight hours last week.
The first shooting took place on Wednesday, which is unprecedented in the Balkan country. A 13-year-old student opened fire in a school in central Belgrade, killing eight classmates and a security guard, and injuring six other students and a teacher.
On Thursday, a 21-year-old killed eight people with an automatic rifle and wounded 14 in two villages, sixty kilometers south of Belgrade.
After the shootings, the Serbian president pledged to implement a broad disarmament plan. According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS) project, 39% of people in Serbia own a firearm, the highest rate in Europe.
