2023-07-01 19:46:00
1.07.2023 21:46
(Akt. 1.07.2023 21:50)
Deadline for selling illegal weapons with impunity has now expired ©APA/AFP
After two killing sprees in May this year that left 18 dead, people in Serbia handed in a total of 108,833 illegally owned weapons. That said a police spokeswoman in Belgrade on Saturday, according to the Serbian news agency Tanjug. The government had called for the surrender of the weapons.
The deadline for the penalty-free tax expired at midnight the previous day, after it had already been extended once. According to the police, around 82,400 handguns, around 26,500 mines and other explosive devices, and 4.2 million pieces of ammunition were handed over.
On Saturday evening, tens of thousands of people demonstrated again in Belgrade and at least eight other places in Serbia against what they believed to be the climate of violence in the country promoted by pro-government tabloid media.
Left-wing and liberal opposition parties and civil movements had called for the rallies. In Belgrade, demonstrators flocked to the headquarters of the private broadcaster Pink TV. They accused this government-controlled tabloid broadcaster of inciting hatred and violence. Citizens’ anger is also directed at President Aleksandar Vucic and the government. They are accused of not having prevented this violent climate.
The two killing sprees had deeply shaken Serbian society. On May 3, a 13-year-old student shot dead nine classmates and a security guard at his school in central Belgrade. A day later, a young man killed eight people with firearms in a village near Belgrade. The two rampages were not related.
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