Скачать или смотреть Belgrade demo demands Vucic resigns over Kosovo plan

(24 Mar 2023)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade – 24 March 2023
1. Supporters of Serbian right-wing opposition gather in central Belgrade
2. A man waving a Serbian flag dressed in traditional attire
3. A religious flag at protest
4. Protesters stepping into street, blocking traffic
5. Various of blocked traffic and protesters
6. Various of banners reading “Serbia Remembers” and “No to Capitulation” in Serbian Cyrillic letters
7. Bosko Obradovic, leader of right-wing Dveri party, speaking at protest
8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Bosko Obradovic (center), leader of right-wing parliamentary Dveri party:
“Recognized (by the Serbia-Kosovo agreement) are national symbols, ID papers and sovereignty of the fake state of Kosovo. (Under the deal) Serbia is obliged to never again be against the membership of the fake state of Kosovo in any and all international organizations. What is that if not treason? What is that if not capitulation?”
9. Serbian flags at protest
10. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Bosko Obradovic (center), leader of right-wing parliamentary Dveri party:
“If this government has blocked all state agencies and also normal life in this country, then today we have blockaded them here in front of the Serbian government building - from where we send a clear message - that treason will not pass - and that we won’t make peace with the treacherous - capitulating politics that go against the constitution which this government is carrying out.”
11. Various of protesters blocking off a street
12. A man seen between Serbian flags as he attends protest
STORYLINE:
Supporters of Serbian right-wing opposition parties on Friday demanded that populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government resign over a Western-backed plan to normalize relations with Kosovo.

Several hundred people held banners reading “No to capitulation,” or “Vucic resign” in what they described as a “warning protest” against the 11-point plan that US and European Union officials presented as a way out of a decades-long problem between Serbia and Kosovo.

Bosko Obradovic, one of the leaders of the protest and a member of Serbian parliament, told the crowd that under the deal “Serbia is Serbia is obliged to never again be against the membership of the fake state of Kosovo in any and all international organizations".

“What is that if not treason?”, Obradovic shouted.

The protest outside the government headquarters also coincided with the start of the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 that ended Belgrade's brutal crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and forced Serbia to pull out of the territory.

Kosovo, a former Serbian province, in 2008 declared independence from Serbia which has been recognized by the United States and most EU countries but not Belgrade, Russia and China.

The Western plan for Kosovo envisages that Serbia and Kosovo normalize relations without formal recognition. Serbia would no longer block Kosovo's participation in international organizations while Kosovo would provide self-rule for the Serb minority.

Nationalists in Serbia have criticized the agreement as a de-facto recognition of Kosovo by Serbia. They have demanded that Serbia reject the agreement, although EU officials said normalization of ties with Kosovo is a condition for EU membership.

Around 13,000 people were killed in the conflict in Kosovo. NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days, destroying infrastructure and army facilities but also military and police buildings in the very center of Belgrade.


Anti-NATO sentiments remain high in Serbia more than two decades after the bombing.



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