Vucic Says Friendly Special Services From 'East' Warned Of Color Revolution In Serbia

BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2023) Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday that special services of a friendly country "from East" warned him of possible attempts to stage a color revolution in the country.

Earlier in the day, Serbian opposition started another mass protest demonstration in Belgrade under the slogan "Against Violence in Serbia" in front of the country's parliament.

"I receive information from different special services and our friendly services from East tell us that this is an attempt of color revolution and so on. And I tell them I don't know what they (opposition) are going to do, I know only that it is disgraceful to try to use tragedy, deaths of children to become bigger, better and smarter for our people than they have ever been," Vucic said at a rally in a town near Belgrade.

At the same time, some Western countries, mainly the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy, have increased their pressure on Serbia over the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, the northern part of which is populated by Serbs, Vucic said. Despite this, Belgrade will remain firm in its principles and will continue to respect international law and the UN Charter, he added.

Vucic also said that Serbia will maintain independent foreign policy and will decide on its own whether to impose any sanctions or not.

"The people said that we are military neutral, and we will defend our land ourselves," the president said.

Serbian opposition held several protest actions since the beginning of May. About 50,000 people took part in some of the demonstrations, according to the opposition sources. Vucic accused his political opponents of using people's emotions over the two recent mass shootings to achieve their own political goals.

In the night of May 5 to May 6, 21-year old Uros Blazic killed eight people and injured 14 with an automatic gun in the municipality of Mladenovac near Belgrade. He reportedly shot a police officer and his sister, and continued to shoot at random people before he was apprehended by the police.

Two days before that, a seventh-grader shot eight children and a guard and wounded six children and a teacher with a gun in a Belgrade school. One wounded girl died in hospital on May 15. The shooter was arrested, but, since he is not 14 years old yet, he is not liable to criminal proceedings. The boy was placed in a psychiatric ward.