Few people slept in Serbia on the night between August 13 and 14.
One gun drawn, dozens of injured, serious clashes, the appearance of Andrej and Aleksandar Vučić in Ćaciland - this is the balance in short protests across Serbia, which took place in the evening and during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
Just a few hours earlier, on Wednesday, August 13, the organizers called for numerous protests with the message "Wake up", and the reason was the incidents that happened in front of the SNS premises in Vrbas and Bačka Palanka the day before.
This call was heard by hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
A new phase of protest: Six conclusions
Civil war
Students in the blockade announced themselves on social media after the protest ended and said that the government wanted to provoke a civil war with conflicts last night.
"The regime determined the culprit a long time ago - the students and citizens are to blame. The state leadership no longer hides behind phrases about dialogue, the president announced a purge. The police once again protected the regime loyalists who threw stones and fired pyrotechnics at the demonstrators. They also appeared in front of the people with a gun," the blockaded students state in a post on Instagram, and that they "will not allow them to continue destroying human lives."
Aleksandar Vučić responded to that by declaring that there will be no civil war, of any kind, adding that those "who committed violence are showing all the hysteria and all the despair because there are few of them and they are getting fewer and fewer."
A gun in one hand and a torch in the other hand
In Novi Sad alone, 64 citizens were injured in the premises of SNS, as well as five members of Kobra, the government found out, and Vučić added that the injured in Novi Sad were "swimming in blood". At least 16 policemen were also injured, the MUP announced.
The biggest skirmishes were precisely in Novi Sad. Citizens were showered with pyrotechnics from the premises of the Serbian Progressive Party. Reporters were attacked, one citizen was injured, and also one policeman.
During the incidents, one of the gathered citizens with visible injuries that he sustained, as he claims, because a torch was put in his mouth, said that he was one of the supporters of the ruling party with a mask on his face and a bulletproof vest. held a gun in one hand and a torch in the other.
Several incidents also occurred in Belgrade and Nis. Police arrested citizens near the Faculty of Law, and scenes of police brutality against citizens were recorded on the streets of the capital. She also threw tear gas in New Belgrade. There was also a clash between the gendarmerie and those gathered at the protest in Niš.
Andrei and Alexander
Apart from the hordes of thugs in numerous cities in Serbia, the protest was also marked by the appearance of Andrej Vučić, the brother of the President of the Republic, who came to Ćaciland in the evening. Andrej Vučić does not appear in public much, does not make statements for the media and does not appear on television, but this is the man who is actually the "executive director" of the SNS machinery.
Investigative media wrote that he took over almost all the restaurants that are doing well in Serbia. They reported on his numerous lucrative insurance deals, dealings with Zvonko Veselinović from the north of Kosovo, as well as the fact that in the "Sky" messages of drug lord Darko Šarić's associate, it is stated that SNS clans fighting for Andrej Vučić's favor were fighting over valuable state jobs in the energy sector, as well as that he was deciding who would be the director of the police.
Thus, the appearance of Andrej can be interpreted as a concrete message to the beaters, parapolice brigades and 2.0 students in Ćaciland - to close ranks and "work better" for the SNS cause.
Soon after him, Aleksandar Vučić also arrived in Ćaciland, there he recorded himself for Instagram in a message that was a mix of conciliatory and threatening.
"At 15 to 10 here I am in front of the Assembly on the edge of Ćaciland, since they said they were going to attack, so I came here to be with the people," announced Vučić. "With a people who only protect their own, do not touch anyone, do not attack anyone."
He added, seemingly conciliatory, that "more than ever before, we need to listen to each other, understand and not hate anyone." Nevertheless, he continued in his own style, saying that "they did terrible things tonight in Novi Sad and are still doing them". He added that "when you show the will for peace", alluding to yourself, "in the end you solve things with patience".
As the morning came, his statements came one after the other.
He said that there were "a very small number of people on the street and that's probably why they were annoyed".
"There were ten times more people who defended and guarded their houses and their premises than those who wanted to attack them. In Šid, there were 60 of them, and those who defended their premises were over 500. In Ruma, there was a similar relationship, in Mitrovica, there was a similar relationship. In Leskovac, too, but it is unbelievable that someone thought that they could bring down the state with their cruelty and brutality," said Vučić.
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