The Serbian Progressive Party brought between six and seven thousand people to greet the Chinese president, the Archive of Public Meetings estimates
Between six and seven thousand people were waiting Chinese the President Xi Jinping shines at the official reception in front of the Palace of Serbia in New Belgrade, estimates the Archives of Public Meetings.
This organization, which counts demonstrators in Serbia and estimates the size of the gatherings, arrived at the figure by analyzing its own footage from the scene.
"Although this space could have accommodated much more, one gets the impression that this time not nearly as much effort was put into bringing organized groups as at some earlier public gatherings organized by the SNS," the Archive said in a statement.
Are there security reasons?
"In previous years, it has been shown that the ruling party has logistical capacities that can enable bringing close to 50.000 people from all over Serbia to public gatherings assessed as particularly important," they add.
They remind that at the reception of Vladimir Putin in January 2019, between 35 and 40 thousand people were brought to the area around the Saint Sava Temple, which means that for Xi Jinping, five to six times less effort was made.
"It remains unknown whether this disparity arose as a result of some security reasons, the pre-election overload of the party or something else, but judging by the organization of the welcome rally, friendship with China seems much less steely than friendship with Russia," says the Archive.
Balancing continues
Xi Jinping's visit to Serbia, which was accompanied by strong security measures and "preventive arrests", ended on Wednesday.
During the visit, words of praise were exchanged and deepening of cooperation was promised. The Western media attached great importance to that visit, mainly assessing that China is sending a message to the domestic public and the global south, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić continues to balance between East and West.
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