Two devastating massacres within 24 hours in early May with a total of 18 deaths shocked Serbian society. In addition to tightening controls on gun possession, the government of President Aleksandar Vučić called on the population to surrender illegally owned firearms. You can submit this anonymously and without penalty until Thursday. So far, the police have been able to collect 78,000 weapons.
Specifically, there are 57,651 small arms and 20,451 explosives, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry said Wednesday on state television channel RTS. Nearly seven million cartridges also found their way to the police.
According to estimates, the number of firearms and explosives – especially hand grenades – in the hands of civilians in Serbia is staggering. For example, experts from the Small Arms Survey research project suspect that about one million weapons are illegally owned by civilians. Serbia has 6.6 million inhabitants.
Protest marches against the government
On May 3, a 13-year-old student shot and killed nine classmates and a security guard at his school in central Belgrade. A day later, a young man killed eight people with firearms in a village near Belgrade. The two rampages were not related. Political tensions have increased following the two massacres in Belgrade and Mladenovac and protest marches organized by the opposition. In addition to the government, TV channels close to the regime were also targeted, which the opposition says are designed to promote ongoing violence through their hate speech and reality shows. You also demanded that the members of the Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (REM) who approved these programs resign.
It is estimated that some 60,000 people gathered for the most recent protest on Saturday night. They also surrounded the empty office of the president. Vučić responded by repeatedly cryptically promising a major announcement for Wednesday. Of course, the opposition doesn’t want to hear about new elections at the moment.
Source: Krone
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