Posted on 02/06/2019 3:57:31 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
BELGRADE – Weekly protest walks, taking place since 8 December 2018, have become the most serious challenge to the rule of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic so far. The protests, which are supported but not formally organised by the opposition parties, have spread to more than 20 cities and towns across the country...
One of the protests took place in Kosovska Mitrovica, the largest city of the Serb-majority Northern Kosovo, which is governed by Vucic’s political allies.
The protests, organised under the title “One of the five million” (a reference to the initial reaction of President Vucic, in which he said that he would not give in to the demands of the protesters even if there were five million people on the streets), have first taken place in the capital of Belgrade, and then spread to the other cities, including Novi Sad, Kragujevac and Niš.
According to the organisers, the number of participants in Belgrade has exceeded 20.000 several times. The average number has been between several hundred people in smaller places and several thousands in the urban centres.
Even though the protests were triggered by the beating of an opposition member Borko Stefanovic; in November 2018, they are now seen as a general expression of dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition, which has been in power since 2012.
Speakers addressing the protests routinely reference the increasing authoritarian rule of the President, lack of media freedoms and debate in the Parliament, and Belgrade protest walks regularly pass by the building of country’s public broadcaster RTS, which is heavily criticized for biased reporting.
Since the protests gather a wide spectrum of participants, both left-wing and right-wing banners can be seen, including those focusing on bad socio-economic issues, as well as those expressing dissatisfaction with Vucic’s policy towards Kosovo.
(Excerpt) Read more at europeanwesternbalkans.com ...
“Weekly anti-govt protests spread across Serbia”
Governments pretty much suck everywhere,
Ping.
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