Category Archives: Serbia

‘We have a violent society’: hate speech in spotlight after Serbian mass shootings

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Mass shootings prompted arms amnesty, but many see politicians and media as part of the problem

In the first week an amnesty after mass shootings plunged their country into shock and soul-searching, Serbians surrendered more than 13,500 weapons, from guns through hand grenades to anti-tank launchers, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.

But in a deeply divided nation awash with lethal weaponry, where war criminals are glorified, reality shows on state TV star convicted murderers, and memories of savage recent conflicts run deep, many doubt whether the president’s pledge to “disarm” the country will be enough.

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Tens of thousands march in Belgrade after mass shootings

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Marchers in Serbian capital’s second protest in a week decried populist president Aleksandar Vučić

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Belgrade, blocking a key bridge in the second large protest since two mass shootings that rattled Serbia and left 17 people dead, including many children.

Protesters gathered in front of the parliament building on Friday before filing by the government’s HQ and on to 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.”

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Serbians march in silent protest against gun violence after last week’s shootings

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Protesters condemn gun culture and call for officials to resign after 17 people were killed in under 48 hours

Tens of thousands of Serbians have rallied in the capital, Belgrade, with the protesters calling for the resignation of top officials and the curtailing of violence in the media, after back-to-back shootings stunned the Balkan country.

The “Serbia against violence” demonstration saw members from across the country’s political divide come together after last week’s shootings in which 17 people were killed in less than 48 hours – including nine at an elementary school in the capital.

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Funerals begin in Serbia for victims of two mass shootings

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Shootings in a school in Belgrade and a day later in a rural area left 17 people dead and 21 injured

Funerals are being held in Serbia for some of the victims of two mass shootings that happened in just two days this week, leaving 17 people dead and 21 injured, many of them children.

The shootings on Wednesday in a school in Belgrade and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital city have left the nation stunned with grief and disbelief.

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Serbia: man arrested after eight die in second mass shooting in days

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Arrest follows hunt for shooter who fired automatic weapon from moving vehicle in town south of Belgrade

A suspect has been arrested after at least eight people were killed and 13 injured in a second mass shooting in Serbia in as many days.

The man – who has been identified only by his initials UB – was detained near the city of Kragujevac, the interior ministry said.

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Boy, 13, kills eight children and security guard in Belgrade school shooting

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Police name shooter as Kosta Kecmanović and say he was a pupil at the school who may have plotted attack for a month

A 13-year-old boy opened fire in a Belgrade classroom in an apparently planned attack that killed eight children and a school security guard and injured a further six pupils as well as his teacher.

Police named the shooter as Kosta Kecmanović and said he had been a pupil at the school in the centre of the Serbian capital since 2019. They said he had used two of his father’s guns for the shooting and may have been plotting the attack for a month.

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Russian ally Serbia denies supplying weapons to Ukraine

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President says Belgrade ‘has not nor will it’ send Kyiv arms, after leaked Pentagon paper claimed Serbia had agreed to send weapons

The Serbian president says his country has not sold arms to Ukraine and would not do so, after a leaked Pentagon report said Belgrade had agreed to provide arms to Kyiv, according to foreign media reports.

“Serbia has not nor will it export weapons to Ukraine,” Aleksandar Vučić told reporters on Thursday, according to the Beta news agency.

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Leaked US intelligence document claims Serbia agreed to arm Ukraine

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Classified Pentagon document seems to show Serbia has committed to sending lethal aid or has supplied it already

Serbia, the only country in Europe that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, agreed to supply arms to Kyiv or has sent them already, according to a classified Pentagon document.

The document, a summary of European governments’ responses to Ukraine’s requests for military training and “lethal aid” or weapons, was among dozens of classified documents posted online in recent weeks in what could be the most serious leak of US secrets in years.

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Kosovo PM says Russia is inflaming Serbia tensions as Ukraine war falters

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Albin Kurti warns rising tensions only benefit Putin as ethnic Serbs set up road blocks in north of country

Kosovo’s prime minister, Albin Kurti, has warned of Russia inflaming tensions between his country and Serbia due to the war in Ukraine faltering, as Belgrade took its first step in deploying troops to the region.

Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they are in the majority, have had barricades set up for more than a week, preventing the free movement of the Kosovan authorities, despite US and EU calls for the illegal road blocks to be dismantled.

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Kosovo Serbs block road to main border crossings in volatile north

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Trucks and agricultural machines used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions in the region

Hundreds of ethnic Serbs erected barricades on a road in northern Kosovo on Saturday, blocking the traffic over the two main border crossings towards Serbia, police said.

Trucks, ambulance cars and agricultural machines were used as roadblocks, heightening recent tensions which included explosions, shootings and an armed attack on a police patrol which saw one ethnic Albanian police officer wounded.

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Serbian police arrest dozens as Belgrade EuroPride marchers defy ban

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Local media report arrests of unruly counter-protesters as pride marchers flout ban with shortened walk in rain

Serbian police arrested more than 64 people as thousands of LGBTQI+ activists turned out for Belgrade’s EuroPride march on Saturday, despite a government ban.

The event had been intended as the cornerstone event of the EuroPride gathering. But the interior ministry banned the march earlier this week, citing security concerns after rightwing groups threatened to hold protests.

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Serbia bans its first staging of EuroPride rally at late notice

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Organisers vow to go ahead with event on Saturday after authorities announce ban citing public safety

Serbian authorities have banned EuroPride, the pan-European gathering of the LGBTQ community due to be held in Belgrade on Saturday, sparking an outcry from organisers.

EuroPride is held in a different country every year, and this would have been Serbia’s first time hosting the event.

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Serbia and Kosovo reach free movement agreement

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Serbia to abolish entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders and Kosovo agrees not to introduce them

Serbia and Kosovo have agreed on an arrangement for free movement between their countries, the EU’s foreign policy chief announced Saturday.

Serbia agreed to abolish its entry-exit document for Kosovo ID holders, and Kosovo agreed to not introduce them for Serbian ID holders, said Josep Borrell.

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Finland named world’s happiest country for fifth year running

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Experts say social support, honesty and generosity key to wellbeing, as Afghanistan and Lebanon struggle in global ranking

Finland has been named the world’s happiest country for the fifth year in a row, in an annual UN-sponsored index that ranked Afghanistan as the unhappiest, closely followed by Lebanon.

The latest list was completed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia may pressure Serbia to undermine western Balkans, leaders warn

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Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina urge western leaders to ‘engage more actively and strongly’ in the region

Russia is likely to expand its confrontation with the west by pressuring Serbia into undermining the independence of Kosovo and other western Balkan states, regional leaders have warned in interviews with the Guardian.

They also called for the EU and Nato to speed up their approach to applications for membership from Balkans countries, and bolster defences against Russian interference.

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‘Illegal’ extradition of Bahraini dissident from Serbia calls Interpol’s role into question

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Abuse of the policing body’s ‘red notice’ system is blamed as an activist is forced to return to life in prison in the Gulf state

Marko Štambuk arrived at Belgrade district prison on a Monday morning in late January, only to be told his client was no longer inside. “Immediately I knew something had happened,” he said.

Štambuk, a lawyer, had spent the previous Friday frantically obtaining an injunction from the European court of human rights (ECHR) demanding Serbian authorities halt the extradition of his client, Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali, a Bahraini dissident. This banned the Serbian authorities from extraditing Ali until late February, and warned them that doing so would constitute a rare breach of the European convention on human rights.

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Serbia extradites Bahraini dissident in cooperation with Interpol

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Move comes despite European court of human rights injunction saying that it should be postponed

Serbian authorities have extradited a Bahraini dissident in cooperation with Interpol despite an injunction by the European court of human rights, in the first test for the international policing organisation under the presidency of a top Emirati security official.

Authorities in Belgrade approved the extradition of Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali to Bahrain earlier this week. Days earlier the ECHR had issued an injunction saying the extradition should be postponed until after 25 February to allow Serbian authorities time to provide more information to the court, which was responding to a request by the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights to consider Ali’s case.

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Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić criticises Australia on Novak Djokovic visa ruling – video

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Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić criticises the Australian federal court's decision to dismiss Novak Djokovic's visa appeal as 'political'. 'Of course, all of us in Serbia are very much disappointed with the court's ruling,' says Vučić. 'I think Australian authorities humiliated themselves with these kinds of procedures against Novak Djokovic.'

Djokovic  was trying to use a medical exemption to get around the requirements that everyone at the Australian Open - players, their support teams, spectators and others - be vaccinated against Covid-19.

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Serbia’s leaders hit out at ‘scandalous’ treatment of Novak Djokovic

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President and prime minister condemn Australia’s ‘farcical’ deportation of world tennis No 1

Serbia’s president has said Novak Djokovic had been “harassed … but not humiliated” and the prime minister called his treatment “scandalous” as the world tennis No 1’s home country reacted furiously to his deportation from Australia.

After an 11-day saga, three judges unanimously upheld a decision by the immigration minister to cancel Djokovic’s visa because his presence might risk ‘civil unrest’ by stoking anti-vaccination sentiment, removing any chance of him winning a 21st grand slam at the Australian Open.

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Djokovic’s fans at home vent fury – but Serbian politicians tone rhetoric down

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Fans say Australia’s visa denial a witch-hunt, while Belgrade starts to distance itself from player’s anti-vaccine stance

Novak Djokovic’s supporters in Serbia have reacted furiously to Australia’s decision to cancel the world tennis No 1’s visa for a second time, but the government has yet to respond officially and previously vociferous politicians have stayed quiet.

The unvaccinated tennis star on Friday asked a court to block his deportation before the Australian Open after Australia’s immigration minister revoked his visa, citing strict Covid-19 entry regulations and stating it was in the public interest.

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