Vucic: Violence like that in Nis must not happen again

Photo: Tanjug/Jadranka Ilic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has assessed that the attacks against officials and members of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Nis, Obrenovac and Kraljevo represent "horrific violence" and that this is something that must not happen again.

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"It was so horrible in Nis that I was left speechless. To try to humiliate people older than you in that way, people who could be your parents, some even grandparents. To throw stones at women... To chase young women down the street, just because they wanted to gather somewhere and think a little differently than you," Vucic told reporters in Brussels.

Asked to comment on statements by opposition politicians that their goal is a transitional government and to remove him from power, Vucic said that they can do whatever they want and that everything is fine until they start using violence.

Vucic assessed that such scenes of violence could be seen in Serbia only on two occasions in the previous 80 years - in 1945 and the beginning of 1946, as well as at the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001.

"Unfortunately, this is happening now and we have to prevent it. I am afraid that some state authorities have not responded adequately, but this is our job and we will deal with it in the coming period," said Vucic.

He asked students and teachers why they did not condemn the violence in Nis.

"I ask everyone else to condemn it and I ask why they didn't condemn such horrific violence? Imagine if that violence happened to them, in that way. What kind of thing would everyone else have to listen to (in that case)? So I ask them why they didn't condemn that violence? Since they already say that they didn't participate in it in an organized manner, even though it is clear who the people who committed that evil are," said Vucic.

When it comes to a transitional government, Vucic said that his position has remained unchanged - there will not be one, and he will not succumb to pressure.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)