In this photo provided by the Serbian Presidential Press Service, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, inspects weapons obtained as part of an amnesty near the city of Smederevo, Serbia, Sunday, 14. May 2023.
AP
hide captions
switch captions
AP
In this photo provided by the Serbian Presidential Press Service, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, inspects weapons obtained as part of an amnesty near the city of Smederevo, Serbia, Sunday, 14. May 2023.
AP
BELGRADE, Serbia — Authorities in Serbia on Sunday displayed piles of guns and boxes of grenades from thousands of weapons, including anti-tank rocket launchers, which they said people had handed over later. mass shootings left the Balkan nation stunned.
The government announced a month-long amnesty for citizens handing over unregistered firearms as part of a gun crackdown following two mass shootings in two days this month that left 17 people dead, many some of them are children.
Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, whom the government has faced public pressure after a separate shooting at a Belgrade school and in two villagesaccompanied top police officials to see the weapons arrayed near the town of Smederevo, about 50 kilometers (30 mi) south of the capital.
Officials say residents have turned over about 13,500 items since the amnesty opened on May 8.
Pictures from the scene showed rows of rifles, automatic weapons and handguns neatly stacked on the warehouse floor along with wooden boxes filled with grenades.
Serbia has tens of thousands of weapons brought back from the battlefields of the 1990s wars in the Balkans. Similar arms amnesty have been held in the past, with only limited success.
Vucic said that about half of the weapons collected since last week were held illegally, while the other half were registered weapons that the citizens still decided to part with. The president said the abandoned weapons will be transferred to Serbian weapons and ammunition factories for use by the country’s armed forces.
Authorities have said that people caught with illegal weapons after the amnesty period ends could face up to 15 years in prison, if they are convicted.
“After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and the punishment will be very severe,” Vucic said of the post-amnesty period. “Who needs automatic weapons for what? Or all these guns?”
Serbia is estimated to be one of the top countries in Europe in terms of the number of registered firearms per capita and many other countries are illegally holding it.
Authorities launched a gun crackdown after a 13-year-old boy on May 3 took his father’s gun and opened fire on his classmates at an elementary school in central Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old man used an automatic weapon to shoot indiscriminately in a rural area south of Belgrade.
Other anti-gun measures announced by Vucic include tighter controls on gun owners and shooting ranges. Police officials said gun owners must have an encrypted safe to store their registered firearms, and any firearms that are not stored properly will be confiscated.
Officials plan to order checks on registered addresses “to check if conditions exist for safe storage,” crime department official Bojana Otovic Pjanovic said online. Serbia’s state television RTS. “Otherwise, the gun will be confiscated and the punishment will be severe.”
Police said in some previous collection efforts, people threw their weapons in the trash or left them unattended instead of taking them to the police station.
Experts believe that tens of thousands of illegal weapons remain unlicensed and beyond the control of the authorities.
Police official Otovic Pjanovic stressed that after the recent shootings, “people have become aware of the risks of keeping guns at home.”
Two mass shootings that left 17 people dead and 21 injured, shocked the nation and sparked calls for change in a country that has endured decades of turmoil and crisis.
Tens of thousands of people have rallied for two protest marches in Belgrade since the shootings, demanding the resignation of government ministers and banning television stations from promoting violent content and publishing characters. crime and war crimes.
Vucic on Sunday rejected calls by the opposition for Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic to resign, who was also present at Sunday’s weapons show. But the president hinted that the government could resign and that he would announce early elections at a rally he had planned for May 26 in Belgrade.
“We have no intention of replacing (interior minister) Gasic, who is doing a very good job,” Mr. Vucic said. “What did the police do wrong?”
Opposition politicians have accused the government of inciting violence and hate speech against its critics, spreading propaganda in the mainstream media and imposing autocracy in all institutions under Vucic, which they see as divisive in society.
On Friday, protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and highway in the capital to push their demands. Protests have also been held in other Serbian cities and towns, expressing grief and anger over the shootings and the populist government.
Vucic described the blockade of the bridge as harassment, while he and other officials and media under his control sought to lower the number of protesters.
