On Friday, tens of thousands of people rallied in favor of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is facing an unprecedented revolution against his dictatorial leadership after two horrific murders shocked the nation.
Vucic slammed the opposition for demanding his resignation for mishandling the situation and dividing the nation. Two early May shootings killed 18 individuals.
Vucic accused opposition lawmakers of “trying to abuse the tragedy” after weeks of huge anti-government rallies.
“Politicians will go down in history of dishonor because they abused the biggest tragedy in our nation,” he stated. Politicians deserve disdain.
“They only wanted to overthrow me and the Serbian government,” he added. “Those politicians didn’t care about kids.”
Vucic asked the opposition to discuss their demands.
Vucic said he will resign as Serbian Progressive Party chairman on Saturday and launch a new national movement including politicians, philosophers, artists, and others.
“I’m staying,” he said. “We will protect Serbia.”
Vucic ordered Serbian forces to be on a “higher state of alert” after ethnic Serbs battled with Kosovo police on Friday, overshadowing the demonstration. Vucic also ordered “urgent” Serbian troop deployment near Kosovo’s 2008 independence border.
Vucic’s fans, many wearing his image T-shirts, were bused to Belgrade from throughout Serbia and neighboring Kosovo and Bosnia for what he dubbed “the largest rally in Serbia’s history.”
The organizers stated “hundreds of thousands” joined the gathering in front of Serbia’s National Assembly despite rain and a thunderstorm that forced many to seek cover.
State employees were given a day off to join the march in front of parliament. Some alleged they were informed they may lose their jobs if they didn’t get on the buses that arrived hours before the gathering.
Serbian officials stated the march promotes “unity and hope” for Serbia.
The capital’s three massive anti-government rallies earlier this month sought Vucic’s resignation and that of two top security officers. They also urged that two pro-Vucic television stations that advocate violence and host convicted war criminals and other criminals lose their broadcasting licenses.
Opposition protestors accuse Vucic for generating an atmosphere of pessimism and divisiveness that partly contributed to the May 3 and 4 mass shootings that killed 18 people and injured 20, many of them schoolchildren shot by a 13-year-old classmate.
Vucic has angrily denied culpability for the shootings, branding opposition protest organizers “vultures” and “hyenas” who seek to use the tragedies to seize power without an election.
Analysts say Vucic, who has controlled the nation for nearly a decade, is seeking to eclipse opposition demonstrations with the big assembly.
“For the first time, Vucic has a problem,” said political expert Zoran Gavrilovic. His concern is Serbian society that has awakened, not the opposition.
Former pro-Russia ultranationalist Vucic, who now wants to join the EU, has blamed “foreign intelligence services” for opposition rallies. He obtained the tip from “sisterly” espionage organizations “from the east”—presumably Russia.
In the early 1990s, Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic mobilized the populace for the Yugoslav Wars with furious speeches.
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