Tens of thousands gather in Serbia's anti-government protest

4/6/2023 6:32

        Tens of thousands of Serbs joined an anti-government protest in Belgrade on Saturday, blaming a culture of violence for the deaths of 18 people in two
        mass shootings and calling on the interior minister to resign.
        
        The protest marked the one-month anniversary of the country's first school shooting on May 3, when a teenager killed ten in an elementary school. In the second shooting on May 4, a 21-year-old man killed eight in a town outside Belgrade.
        
        In response to the shootings, the government announced school summer holidays would start on June 6, two weeks earlier than planned.
        
        Opposition parties which organised the protest - the fifth in the space of a month - say the government of President Aleksandra Vucic has failed to tackle the promotion of violence in the media and allowed it to permeate society.
        
        Recent Serbian reality TV shows have featured convicted criminals, including murderers, and shown men beating up women.