Every week, the Serbian capital is filled with demonstrators. Within the crowd, there are homemade signs and small buttons on clothing portraying vultures and hyenas.
Since early May, a substantial number of individuals have taken to the streets of Belgrade to voice their concerns regarding the government and President Alexandar Vučić. These significant public demonstrations mark the largest displays of dissent in the nation since the downfall of Slobodan Milošević.
The protests are directed toward an environment of violence and fear, manipulated media, and corruption. However, we would like to inquire about the significance of animal buttons on T-shirts and jackets, which serve as symbols of the uprising. Our recent episode of Euronews Witness delves into this matter as we visited Belgrade.
The weekly mass protests have been initiated due to the unfortunate incidents of school-shooting in Belgrade and a second shooting in a village resulting in the loss of 18 lives. However, the current frustration is aimed at the ruling power. Tara, a student, is getting ready to participate in the protest and create a placard that advocates for the rule of law rather than the rule of an individual.
The President expressed his opinion that the opposition may be using the mourning period for their own purposes, and referred to certain protesters as “vultures” and “hyenas”. As a result, some protesters have chosen to wear animal buttons. According to one of the demonstrators, their aim is to highlight the issues of corruption, criminal activity, and institutional inadequacies in their country.
There is a strong public call for the president to step down and for an investigation to be conducted into the alleged connections between politics and organized crime. Vučić has proposed the idea of holding snap elections, although opposition parties have expressed their opposition to this suggestion.
The disturbances caused by the protests are intensified by individuals who are in favor of the government and appear to have been transported from various areas in Serbia and nearby nations. It has been suggested that the political party in power finances these opposing demonstrations, but individuals we spoke with contested these allegations.
