Serbians turn in guns after mass shootings
SERBIANS have handed in around 13,500 weapons to the authorities after two mass shootings rocked the country.
Among the weapons are hand grenades, automatic weapons and antitank rocket launchers.
Police declared a one-month amnesty to hand over unregistered weapons or face jail as part of a crackdown on guns following two shootings that left 17 people dead, many of them children.
Aleksandar Vucic, the populist president, accompanied top police officials yesterday for the weapons display near the town of Smederevo.
He said around half of the weapons collected were illegal while the other half were registered arms. “After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and punishments will be very strict,” he said of the post-amnesty period.
“What does anyone need an automatic weapon for? Or all these guns?”
Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe in guns per capita. Many are left over from the wars of the 1990s and held illegally. Other anti-gun measures are to include stricter controls of gun owners and shooting ranges.
Authorities launched the gun crackdown after a 13-year-old boy on May 3 took his father’s gun and opened fire on his fellow pupils in a school in central Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old used an automatic weapon to shoot randomly in a rural area south of the capital.
The two shootings left 17 dead and 21 wounded, shocking the nation and leading to calls for reform in a country
that has been through decades of turmoil and crises.
Tens of thousands of people have taken part in two protest marches in Belgrade since the shootings, demanding resignations of government ministers and a ban on television stations that promote violent content and host war criminals and crime figures.
On Friday, protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and motorway to
‘The state will respond with repressive measures and punishments will be very strict’
press their demands. Protests also have been held in other towns, in an outpouring of grief and anger.
Mr Vucic yesterday rejected opposition calls for the resignation of Bratislav Gasic, the interior minister, who was also present at the weapons display.
But the president suggested that the government might resign and that he will announce an early election at a rally he has planned for May 26 in Belgrade.