Tens of thousands of people in Serbia have protested in Belgrade and at least eight other cities to denounce the country’s “culture of violence.”
Belgrade, the capital, has seen repeated demonstrations since a pair of mass shootings in May left 18 people dead.
Citizens’ anger at the protests were directed at President Aleksandar Vucic’s government and the tabloid media it is close to, which critics accuse of inciting hatred and glorifying violence.
In Belgrade, demonstrators temporarily blocked a highway on Saturday.
Other demonstrations took place in the next largest cities of Novi Sad and Kragujevac, and in the smaller towns of Kraljevo, Subotica, Vranje, Sabac and Leskovac.
Left-wing and liberal opposition parties and civil movements had called for the rallies.
The two deadly rampages were not directly related, but deeply shocked Serbian society as they came on the heels of one another.
At the beginning of May, a 13-year-old boy fatally shot nine classmates and a security guard in a Belgrade school.
A day later, a 21-year-old man shot people in a village near Belgrade, killing eight of them.
Source: The Maitland Mercury
