After the Serbia against Violence protest last Friday, which gathered tens of thousands of citizens, it is clear that the protesters who were peacefully walking in Belgrade did not come there because they were invited by the opposition parties, but primarily because the Serbian government keeps failing them and they are getting increasingly irritated by a series of wrong moves.
Since the prime minister, government ministers and president of Serbia have been making faux pas after faux pas since Friday, it can be expected that the next Serbia against Violence protest, scheduled for Saturday, May 27, will gather the same number or maybe even more people.
Although the government’s and pro-government media’s official narrative has become somewhat quieter and less offensive since the protests, that will not diminish the number of people who are willing to protest against them.
As mentioned, the government’s series of faux pas has been relentless.
Firstly, an hour before a scheduled parliamentary session, PM Ana Brnabic chose very demeaning words to insult an opposition MP Miroslav Aleksić.
Secondly, Interior Minister Bratislav Gašić, whose resignation the opposition has been demanding following two mass shootings in Serbia, said that the demands for his resignation have nothing to do with his work as Interior Minister, but are aimed at “his president” and “his party”.
Unrelated to the demands for resignation, the news broke that Bratislav Gašić’s brother, Boban, bought premium-class business premises in downtown Belgrade for EUR 2,000 per square metre, when the realistic price for this piece of real estate is at least EUR 5,000 per square metre.
Social media have been inundated with video clips of SNS supporters being physically prevented to leave a rally in Pančevo, where the Serbian President spoke.
There have also been clips of the Serbian government’s Secretary General, Novak Nedić, heading a group of men at the recent protests, who were used at previous protests to beat up protesters.
Media have also been reporting about the Serbian government allowing the ownership of 11 Serbian hydro-power plants to be transferred to the Serbian-Hungarian company MVM Group, which the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) has strongly denied.
.. while the public is waiting for the government’s next faux pas.
(Danas, 24.05.2023)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/vlast-je-tanka-protesti-srbija-protiv-nasilja-subota/
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