Thousands Of People Attend Pro-Vucic 'Future Of Serbia' Rally In Belgrade

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th April, 2019) Thousands of supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came on Friday to the parliament building for the "Future of Serbia" campaign rally, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.

Vucic called for the rally in response to anti-government protests organized by the opposition that have been going on in the country since December. The latest one was on Saturday and was attended by an estimated 7,500 people, according to the Serbian Interior Ministry,

Police blocked off the center of Belgrade and said that they were expecting up to 3,000 buses to transport people from all over Serbia. Some buses arrived from neighboring Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia and Montenegro.

A top government official estimated that 170,000 people would attend Friday's rally.

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic spoke at the rally and said that Saturday's opposition protest was meant to show Serbia as a weak country on the brink of chaos, which only intensified Western pressure on the Serbian government.

"They [the opposition] is supported by the West and Western media, but they do not have the support of the people!" Dacic said.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also spoke at the rally. He expressed his view that Serbia deserved to become part of the European Union.

"Serbia deserves to join the European Union. If it was up to us, we would make you a member tomorrow," Szijjarto said.

Protests in Serbia have been held weekly since early December last year after the attack on the leader of the opposition Serbian Left and his two associates in the city of Krusevac on November 23. The Interior Ministry then stated that the suspects had been detained, but the opposition accused the authorities of allowing political violence.

Demonstrators demand that those responsible for the assassination of Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic in January 2018 in Kosovo be found, the dismissal of Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, and the change of the leadership of the national broadcaster RTS. In addition, protesters demand the resignation of the president and the government.