Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
For the sixth night in a row, anti-government rallies took place in multiple cities and towns throughout Serbia on Aug 17, while President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic announced that “the state will implement surprising decisions in the next three or four days” in response to the protests, but did not offer details.
The latest rallies took place in Nis, Novi Sad, Leskovac, Subotica, Pozarevac, Backa Palanka, Kraljevo and Sombor.
In Leskovac, protestors read aloud The Police Officers’ Oath in front of the cordon of police guarding the local offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The citizens of Nis left garbage in front of the same party’s local headquarters, while the people of Subotica sent an open letter to law enforcement recollecting the latter’s illegal conduct.
Novi Sad gathered in front of the Novi Sad University Rectorate Building – which also houses branches of the Prosecutor’s Office – in support of the six people arrested for allegedly assaulting members of the Cobra special operations unit during a rally on Aug. 13. The arrested individuals were scheduled to appear before an investigative judge on Aug. 17 and were questioned well into the night.
According to the Justice Ministry, Aug. 17 also marked a legal crackdown of “all the perpetrators of violence” in Valjevo, which saw the most intense clashes between protestors and police over the past few days and has been the site of three protests in the last four days.
Meanwhile, the gathering in Backa Palanka was more peaceful than earlier in the week, the media have reported.
In response to the nearly week-long spate of rallies and clashes, President Vucic has announced that the state will respond “decisively to restore peace and order in Serbia” and accused those who have attacked police in the streets and set fire to local Progressive and government offices of attempting to “topple the state.”
At the Aug. 17 press conference at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade, attended by top police officials and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, Vucic claimed that the public will, “within the next three or four days,” witness the state reacting “decisively” to said developments. The president further stated that declaring a state of emergency is not being considered because the procedure involved is complicated while there are enough legal measures the authorities can more easily resort to.
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