Grimness around months of protests Serbia is increasing

The protests against the government in Serbia seem to have entered a new phase. For the fifth evening in a row, demonstrators hit the police last night. It is not the first time during the demonstrations that have been on for nine months that they end in violence, but the scale on which is new.

In recent days there are always injuries, including agents. The police also perform dozens of arrests. Earlier, the protests were largely peaceful, something that the students they put on attached great importance to. They want to ensure in a non -violent way that President Aleksandar Vucic, who accuses them of large -scale corruption, drew new elections.

With the greatest protest so far, in March, no fewer than 300,000 Serbs were on the move in the capital Belgrade.

The demonstrators blame the recent violence with the police. such as Saturday evening . The empty SNS party office in the western city of Valjevo was briefly and small and set in light.

The police took hard against all protesters, including papers and tear gas. It is precisely in Valjevo that the anger is great, because there is a video circulating online which can be seen how a demonstrator lies on the ground a day earlier is beaten by agents.

Also on other videos, excessive violence can be seen. On one video, an agent asks “Are you an opposition member?” Before handing out a staircase. Videos showing how children are arrested and filmed while they are put against the wall at a police station with their hands in their necks, lead to even more horror. None of the recordings has also been independently verified.

Further repression

President Vucic maintains that protesters are attacking the police, while protecting the “hard -working Serbs”. He speaks of “terrorists” and repeats that they are controlled and paid from abroad to overthrow Serbia, without further responding or providing proof. “All masks have fallen off, they are getting nervous, and the time has come for the people who cause destruction and set fire to their crimes,” said Vucic on Saturday night.

Such statements feed the fear of further repression among his opponents. The few media that are not on the side of Vucic or act as his mouthpiece, complain about the hate campaign and threats they have to deal with.

The demonstrations started as an indictment against corruption, after in November a concrete cut-off of a gender collapse. Sixteen people were killed. It was the result of unknown work by construction companies that would not have received the contracts because of their expertise, but because they are close to Vucic and his party.

Elections?

In the meantime, the protest is no longer just about that. Opponents are Vucic’s stifling grip on society. He has the entire civil service and all the major media in his grip. They therefore demand new elections, and this time fair: international observers confirmed that there were indications for polls fraud in the previous times.

In the past, the President wrote elections to divert attention from problems, knowing that he would win them. But now that would not work according to polls, not without large -scale fraud at least. He will therefore think that he can better stick to what he has. And that is quite a bit, with army, police, civil servants and most media by his side.

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