Serbian President Expects Opposition To Stage 'More Intense' Anti-Government Rallies

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday that he expected the country's opposition, which wants to see him resign, to stage rallies that were more intense than those that shook Belgrade over the weekend

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th March, 2019) Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday that he expected the country's opposition, which wants to see him resign, to stage rallies that were more intense than those that shook Belgrade over the weekend.

Mass anti-government rallies were held in the Serbian capital on Saturday and Sunday, resulting in 18 detentions and leaving six police officers injured. Protesters accuse Vucic of authoritarianism and control over media.

"We expect even more severe rallies, as they cannot get what they want in the parliamentary elections [scheduled for April 2020]," Vucic told reporters in Belgrade.

Vucic recalled that on Sunday "3,000 people maximum" blocked access to his residence and then to the police office in Belgrade.

He pledged that the Serbian authorities would not let protesters jeopardize public order or the people's safety.

The president slammed protesters as "fascists," and refused to meet with them and hold talks on the street.

"Come and kill me if you want to. I won't run," he said.

Since early December 2018, Serbian opposition forces have been holding weekly protests calling for Vucic's resignation. The rallies were triggered by an attack on the leader of the opposition Serbian Left party, Borko Stefanovic, in late November. While police announced that the suspects in the case had been detained, the country's opposition continues to accuse the authorities of allowing political violence.