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'Serbia Against Violence': Tens of Thousands Demonstrate After Pair of Mass Shootings
"I'm here to demonstrate solidarity against the pervasive violence in the media, in parliament, and in daily life," said one participant.
May 09, 2023
Tens of thousands of people in Serbia hit the streets on Monday to demand the resignation of top government officials and a prohibition on violence promotion in the media following a pair of mass shootings in the country that left 17 dead and 21 injured, many of them children.
"I'm here to demonstrate solidarity against the pervasive violence in the media, in parliament, and in daily life... to show my support in the wake of events that have shattered us, and to pay tribute to the lives of the children we have lost," one unnamed person toldAgence France-Presse.
Last Wednesday, a 13-year-old student armed with two of his father's handguns killed eight classmates and a security guard while wounding six other students and a teacher at a school in the capital Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man brandishing an assault rifle and a pistol murdered eight people and injured 14 in a rural area south of the capital.
Monday's protests were organized by opposition parties. They took place in Belgrade, where people marched behind a banner reading "Serbia against violence," and in the northern city of Novi Sad, where participants held a banner declaring "Everything has to stop" and threw flowers into the Danube River to commemorate victims.
In addition to imploring government ministers to resign, demonstrators called for withdrawing the "licenses to the state-controlled mainstream media that promote violence and often host convicted war criminals and crime figures on their programs," The Associated Pressreported. The back-to-back shootings, which shocked residents of the Balkan country, "triggered calls to encourage tolerance and rid society of widespread hate speech and a gun culture stemming from the 1990s wars."
In Belgrade, more than 10,000 people marched in silence and gathered in front of the country's parliament building before proceeding to rally outside government offices.
"We are here because we can't wait any longer. We've waited too long, we've been silent too long, we've turned our heads too long," Marina Vidojevic, an elementary school teacher, told the crowd. "We want safe schools, streets, villages, and cities for all children."
Citing the "cataclysmic tragedy" of last week's school shooting, former Education Minister Branko Ruzic submitted his resignation on Sunday.
The government also launched a crackdown on firearms. As of Monday, "people who own unlicensed guns can start handing them over at police stations without punishment," AP reported. "Other new gun-control measures include a moratorium on new licenses, strict control of existing ones, and the tightening of rules for gun possession, which officials say will leave many current gun owners without weapons."
But for opposition parties, the government's response is insufficient.
"We have to learn anew how to speak to each other and how to create a healthy future... to nurture the beauty of living, of art, science, and humanity," Biljana Stojkovic, a leader of the leftist Together party, said Monday. "The worst among us have been in power for an entire decade, and they imposed the norms of aggression, intolerance, crime, and lies."
Protesters demanded bans on "reality shows known for promoting violence" and "pro-government newspapers that regularly stoke tension with crude articles targeting political dissidents," AFP reported.
In addition, demonstrators called on several top officials to step down, including the interior minister, the head of the national intelligence agency, and President Aleksandar Vucic, whose ruling Serbian Progressive Party party has been accused of becoming increasingly autocratic.
In response, Vucic dismissed the anti-violence demonstrations as "shameful." He condemned the organizers as a "faceless evil... that dares to use a national tragedy for their own interest."
The president made clear that he is prepared to "test his party's popularity in a snap vote, but did not specify a date," Reutersreported. Elections are currently set to take place in 2026.
"I will continue to work and I will never back down before the street and the mob... Whether it will be a reshuffle of the government or an election, we shall see," Vucic declared on television.
Vucic, who vowed to "disarm" Serbia after last week's shootings, emphasized the steps his government is taking to reduce the number of guns.
According to a 2018 estimate by the Small Arms Survey research group, Serbia has the highest rate of gun ownership in Europe, with roughly 39 civilian firearms per 100 people, the vast majority of them unlicensed.
Serbian police said that more than 1,500 illegal weapons were turned in on Monday, the first day of the country's 30-day amnesty period for surrendering guns with no questions asked.
"Vucic announced police checks of registered gun owners," Reuters reported. "Serbia has a deeply entrenched gun culture, and along with the rest of the Western Balkans is awash with military-grade weapons and ordnance in private hands after the wars of the 1990s that tore apart the former Yugoslavia."
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Kosovo Closes Main Border With Serbia Amid Protests, Rising Tensions
"It is paramount that all involved avoid any rhetoric or actions that can cause tensions and escalate the situation," said the leader of NATO's mission in Kosovo. "Solutions should be sought through dialogue."
Dec 28, 2022
Kosovo shut down its largest border crossing with Serbia on Wednesday, underscoring the extent to which tensions between the two Balkan countries are rising.
Albanian-majority Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with Western support, roughly a decade after North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces intervened and carried out a bombing campaign on behalf of ethnic Albanians during a 1998-1999 civil war in the former Yugoslavia.
Serbia, which had been one of the six constituent republics of Yugoslavia prior to its dissolution, has refused to recognize the statehood of Kosovo, which had been a Yugoslav province within Serbia. Instead, according toAgence France-Presse, Belgrade has encouraged 120,000 ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo to defy Pristina's authority—especially in northern Kosovo where Serbs constitute the majority.
According to Al Jazeera: "About 50,000 Serbs living in ethnically divided northern Kosovo refuse to recognize the government in Pristina or the status of Kosovo as a country separate from Serbia. They have the support of many Serbs in Serbia and its government."
As AFP reported:
The latest trouble erupted on December 10, when ethnic Serbs put up barricades to protest the arrest of an ex-policeman suspected of being involved in attacks against ethnic Albanian police officers—effectively sealing off traffic on two border crossings.
After the roadblocks were erected, Kosovar police and international peacekeepers were attacked in several shooting incidents, while the Serbian armed forces were put on heightened alert this week.
Late Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators on the Serbian side of the border used trucks and tractors to halt traffic leading to Merdare, the biggest crossing between the neighbors—a move which forced Kosovo police to close the entry point on Wednesday.
Due to recent border blockades and closures, just three entry points between the two countries remain open. The obstructions are "preventing thousands of Kosovars who work elsewhere in Europe from returning home for holidays," Al Jazeera noted.
"Kosovo's government has asked NATO's peacekeeping force for the country, the approximately 4,000-strong KFOR, to clear the barricades" erected on its side of the border, the news outlet reported. "KFOR has no authority to act on Serbian soil."
KFOR commander Major General Angelo Michele Ristuccia said Wednesday in a statement that "it is paramount that all involved avoid any rhetoric or actions that can cause tensions and escalate the situation."
"Solutions should be sought through dialogue," he added.
On Tuesday, Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla accused Serbia, under the influence of Russia, of trying to destabilize its neighbor by supporting ethnic Serbs who have been demonstrating for weeks in northern Kosovo.
According to Al Jazeera:
Serbia denies it is trying to destabilize its neighbor and says it only wants to protect the Serbian minority living in what is now Kosovan territory... not recognized by Belgrade.
Moscow said on Wednesday that it supported Serbia's attempts to protect ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo but denied Pristina's accusation that Russia was somehow stoking tensions in an attempt to sow chaos across the Balkans.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called it "wrong" to blame Moscow for escalating tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.
"Serbia is a sovereign country, and naturally, it protects the rights of Serbs who live nearby in such difficult conditions, and naturally reacts harshly when these rights are violated," said Peskov.
"Having very close allied relations, historical and spiritual relations with Serbia, Russia is very closely monitoring what is happening, how the rights of Serbs are respected and ensured," he added. "And, of course, we support Belgrade in the actions that are being taken."
In a joint statement released Wednesday, the European Union and the United States called on all parties "to exercise maximum restraint, to take immediate action to unconditionally de-escalate the situation, and to refrain from provocations, threats, or intimidation."
Serbian Defense Minister Miloš Vučević on Wednesday described the barricades as a "democratic and peaceful" means of protest and said that Belgrade has "an open line of communication" with Western diplomats on resolving the issue.
"We are all worried about the situation and where all this is going," said Vučević. "Serbia is ready for a deal."
As AFP reported, "Northern Kosovo has been on edge since November when hundreds of ethnic Serb workers in the Kosovo police as well as the judicial branch, including judges and prosecutors, walked off the job."
"They were protesting a controversial decision to ban Serbs living in Kosovo from using Belgrade-issued vehicle license plates—a policy that was eventually scrapped by Pristina," the news agency noted. "The mass walkouts created a security vacuum in Kosovo, which Pristina tried to fill by deploying ethnic Albanian police officers in the region."
This article has been updated to better reflect the relationship between the former Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Kosovo.
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'Dark Day for Democracy' in Hungary as Orban Wins Dubious Reelection
"Right-wing nationalism and illiberalism are very alive in the heart of Europe."
Apr 04, 2022
Democracy defenders on Monday warned of ominous consequences as right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was overwhelmingly elected to his fourth term in a contest progressive observers said was unfairly stacked against the opposition.
"Hungary seems to have reached a point of no return."
Peter Marki-Zay, leader of the opposition United for Hungary alliance and mayor of the southeastern town of Hodmezovasarhely, said that "we never thought this would be the result. We knew in advance that it would be an extremely unequal fight. We do not dispute that Fidesz won this election. That this election was democratic and free is, of course, something we continue to dispute."
According to the National Election Office, with nearly 99% of ballots counted Orban's Fidesz-led coalition won 53.3% of the vote, while United for Hungary--a big-tent alliance whose members ranged from the right-wing Jobbik party to Hungary's Green Party--had 34.9%. The far-right Our Homeland Movement nearly doubled its 2019 showing to 6.2%, passing the 5% threshold for parliamentary representation.
Preliminary results point to a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority for Fidesz, whose members will occupy 135 seats to United for Hungary's 56.
Edit Zgut, a political scientist at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, told the Associated Press that "Hungary seems to have reached a point of no return," and that Orban will now be empowered to move in an even more autocratic direction.
"The key lesson is that the playing field is tilted so much that it became almost impossible to replace Fidesz in elections," she added.
According to Progressive International:
Hungary held its last free and fair election 12 years ago, when Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, together with its coalition partner KDNP, won a "supermajority" in the Hungarian parliament that enabled it to change the country's constitution.
Since then--and often under the protection of right-wing political forces in the European Union--Fidesz has slowly eroded the rule of law, democratic institutions, and the integrity of the electoral process...
Since 2010, the Fidesz-dominated parliament has approved over 700 changes to the electoral system--often without public consultation, despite resistance from opposition parties and notably during the Covid-19 state of emergency. Crucially, this included the gradual gerrymandering of electoral constituencies to favor Fidesz candidates.
Government control over the media has played a crucial role in perpetuating Fidesz's power. A report published last month by the International Press Institute (IPI) detailed how the government continues to "systematically erode media pluralism, muzzle what is left of the independent press, and manipulate the market to further entrench a dominant pro-government narrative."
"To achieve this unprecedented level of political control over the country's media ecosystem, Fidesz has pursued the most advanced model of media capture ever developed within the European Union," said IPI. "This process has involved the coordinated exploitation of legal, regulatory, and economic power to gain control over public media, concentrate private media in the hands of allies, and distort the market to the detriment of independent journalism."
This has led to fawning election coverage and disproportionate airtime for Orban and marginalization of Marki-Zay, as well as what political commentator Peter Kreko called "an orgy of disinformation over Ukraine" to the point where many Hungarians believe the invaded nation started the war.
European leaders bristle at Orban's warm personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the Hungarian leader did condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and vote along with the rest of the 27-nation European Union on economic sanctions.
Orban relished his landslide victory, triumphantly declaring that "the whole world has seen tonight in Budapest that Christian democratic politics, conservative civic politics, and patriotic politics have won. We are telling Europe that this is not the past, this is the future."
"We won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon, and you can certainly see it from Brussels," he gloated, referring to the E.U. capital.
In addition to the Russia issue, the E.U. and Hungary have been at odds over the latter's human rights violations--especially against LGBTQ+ people, women, Roma, and migrants--and the erosion of democracy in the Central European nation of 9.75 million people.
Progressives hailed the failure of an anti-LGBTQ+ referendum modeled party on Russia's so-called "gay propaganda" law as a bright spot in Hungary's elections.
\u201cOrb\u00e1n\u2019s election win a loss for human rights.\n\nHowever, his failure in the referendum shows the struggle is not over:\n\n\u201cThere is no majority support in Hungary for discrimination, inequality and ostracization of LGBTQI people.\u201d @MalinBjork_EU\n\nhttps://t.co/niZFsbVlme\u201d— The Left in the European Parliament (@The Left in the European Parliament) 1649074754
The Hungarian leader's anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, and other regressive policies and actions have won widespread admiration and support from right-wing leaders around the world, as well as from uber-conservative U.S. media personalities like Fox News' Tucker Carlson, who has repeatedly broadcast from Hungary.
In January, former U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed Orban's reelection. The following month, Orban hosted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who called Hungary Brazil's "big little brother."
Orban's victory came on the same day that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic--another right-wing populist with close ties to Putin--was decisively reelected, avoiding a second-round runoff contest in the Balkan nation caught between its historically close relationship with Russia and its E.U. aspirations.
International observers also said that Serbia's elections were unfair, with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) alleging the contest was held on "an uneven playing field."
Kyriakos Hadjiyianni, special coordinator and leader of the OSCE short-term elections observers, said that "this was a competitive campaign and, importantly, included opposition candidates this time, but the pervasive influence of the ruling parties gave them undue advantage."
The conservative victories in Hungary and Serbia are likely to resonate with right-wing candidates in other European nations including France, where according to recent polling incumbent centrist President Emmanuel Macron holds a single-digit lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in next week's first-round election.
Hungarian progressives vowed to keep fighting against the erosion of democracy, pointing to signs of hope like the election of left-wing activist Andras Jambor to parliament.
\u201cOur goal will not change: we want to re-establish the left in Hungary, to create the possibility of economic and political democracy. We will continue to fight for everything we believe in and what Andr\u00e1s J\u00e1mbor now represents in Parliament!\u201d— Szikra Mozgalom (@Szikra Mozgalom) 1649025840
"Our goal will not change: We want to reestablish the left in Hungary, to create the possibility of economic and political democracy," Szikra Mozgalom, or Spark Movement--Jambor's party--tweeted. "We will continue to fight for everything we believe in and what Andras Jambor now represents in parliament!"
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