Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has resigned

Photo: Tanjug/Strahinja Acimovic

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced on January 28 that he is submitting his irrevocable resignation.

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Addressing the public from the Government building in Belgrade, he announced that the mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Djuric, would also resign. Reflecting on what preceded this decision, he underlined the importance of calming passions and returning to dialogue.

"The entire government is in a caretaker mandate, the entire cabinet has fallen," noted Vucevic, adding that he will do his job responsibly until a new government has been elected.

"What leaves deep consequences on our society are serious divisions, creating an atmosphere that everything is on the brink of conflict, that we have come to the point where students in schools are keeping track of who attends classes and who doesn't. Absolutely all of this is planned abroad, I have no doubt about that, and those have gone after the children's education," he stressed.

"We are under obligation to take the first step towards calming passions, for the Government to invite rectors and deans and professors, above all students, to come and discuss all the topics they consider to be the most important... And then, this morning when I woke up, I saw the news from Novi Sad that late last night there was a physical confrontation on the street, that one of the students, a young woman, Ana, was injured and that the conflict started over the fact that someone came to the SNS party premises again, that people there felt that they should defend it and that conflict eventually happened in another location.

I wish Anna a speedy recovery, I was informed that she has been released for home treatment at her request. This is certainly unacceptable, I expect the perpetrators to be arrested and their criminal and legal responsibility to be determined. I can never understand many of these protests, blockades, movements, attacks on citizens who think differently, attacks on students who want to study. I will never accept the terror against students who want to go to school, insulting and humiliating the parents who declare that they want their child to go to school. It's unconscionable," he said and continued:

"Those who do it will be ashamed, I'm sure of that. Anyway, I think that this policy to which I belong, the party that won all the elections, must show the highest degree of responsibility, new rules in Serbian politics and that it is the most responsible. And that's why after this event, my irrevocable decision to resign. I had a long meeting with the president this morning," Vucevic said.

Sources close to the prime minister stated earlier that Vucevic was this morning shocked by the event in Novi Sad. Students organizing blockades there announced on their Instagram account that a group of their colleagues was attacked by unknown persons last night and that one girl was seriously injured.

(Telegraf.rs)