Protesters gathered in front of the parliament building on Friday before filing by the government’s HQ and onto a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column was a black banner reading “Serbia against violence.”
As the demonstrators passed the government buildings, many chanted slogans decrying Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, whom they blame for creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and division in the country that they say indirectly led to the mass shootings, The Guardian reported.
Police did not intervene.
The rally came less than a week after an earlier protest in Belgrade that also drew thousands and other demonstrations in smaller towns and cities around the country.
The two shootings happened within two days of each other and left 17 people dead and 21 wounded. On 3 May, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s gun to open fire at his school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital.
MP/PR