Serbia: New protest against violence targets national television

A new demonstration against violence took place on Saturday 27 May in Belgrade the day after the big meeting of the Head of State, Aleksandar Vucic. Several tens of thousands of demonstrators responded to the call of the opposition, which intends to ride the wave of citizen anger.

People gather in a street outside the headquarters of state television during an opposition demonstration in Belgrade, Saturday, May 27, 2023. AP - Marko Drobnjakovic

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Under the banner "Serbia against violence", tens of thousands of citizens met this Saturday evening in front of the Parliament, reports our correspondent in Belgrade, Philippe Bertinchamps. The procession then headed to Serbian public broadcaster RTS, which was accused of bias in its treatment of information. They demanded the resignation of the channel's management and editors-in-chief, accused of being the "mouthpieces" of power.

This demonstration was a double for the opposition. The day before, President Aleksandar Vucic had indeed organized, as a show of force, a large political meeting in the Serbian capital where 45 to 50,000 people were summoned, willingly or by force, from all over the country. A significant number, but less than the 60,000 or so demonstrators who spontaneously marched through the streets of Belgrade last week. Given the crowd that responded last night, it may well be that the opposition has won its bet.

Opposition calls for more protests

This was the fourth citizens' demonstration in Belgrade since the killings that plunged the country into mourning in early May. The opposition, which intends to take advantage of this momentum, has called for a new rally on Friday 2 June. It remains to be seen what the regime's response will be and how destabilized it will be by this tidal wave of citizen anger. The last time Serbs marched so massively was during the 2000 protests that led to the fall of Belgrade strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

The head of state again accused the opposition parties of having "tried to abuse the tragedy" for political purposes, while being more conciliatory than in recent times towards the protesters themselves. "Those who have marched in recent weeks are in most cases good, decent and normal people who want good for Serbia," the head of state acknowledged. "The ones I can't appreciate are politicians who want to make history by abusing tragedy."

>> READ ALSO: "Our society is sick": since the double shooting in Serbia, the anger does not subside

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• Serbia
• Aleksandar Vucic
• Media