Thousands of people marched against the rule of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for the sixth week in a row, rallying in Belgrade and other major cities.
In Serbia, thousands took to the streets again last week (for the sixth straight week) to protest against the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic.
Some 40,000 people took part in the protests in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad, and several smaller cities, organizers said on January 12.
As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, protestors in Belgrade carried a banner showing a bloodied shirt, an allusion to the unsolved assault on leftist leader Borko Stefanovic in November.
An umbrella of opposition parties, the Alliance for Serbia, suspect Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of involvement in the assault. The ruling party rejects the claims.
Demonstrators called for protecting media freedoms, ending the country’s hostile environment for journalists and opposition figures, and transparency from the government as it seeks to settle outstanding disputes with neighbouring Kosovo.
Opposition leader Dragan Djilas said the scale of the protests had “caught many people by surprise, including some (opposition) politicians”.
He reiterated protesters’ calls that Serbian public broadcaster RTS end a “media blockade”.
