Thousands attend pro-Serbia government rally after months of unrest

Tens of thousands of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s supporters have held a rally in Belgrade following months of unrest across the country.

A monitoring organisation said around 55,000 people had gathered in front of the National Assembly. Despite some Vucic followers travelling from neighbouring countries, attendance was significantly lower than last month’s huge anti-government protest.

There have been regular demonstrations in Serbia since November when the collapse of a railway station canopy in the city of Novi Sad killed 15 people, triggering widespread public anger.

A number of Serbians blamed the incident on alleged corruption and corner-cutting by Vucic’s Progressive Party.

The Serbian leader had promoted the rally on Saturday as the launch of a “Movement for the People and the State”, which would “save” Serbia from forces working to “destroy” the country.

In a speech at the event, he called on prosecutors to work to restore order and peace.

He claimed the student-led protests had been threatening Serbia’s peace and stability, accusing attendees of being paid by “foreign intelligence agencies”.

“Certain foreign powers cannot bear to see a free, independent and sovereign Serbia”, he said, without clarifying which “powers” he was referring to.

Vucic also criticised national broadcaster RTS, describing it as a “key participant” in an attempted “colour revolution”.

After the Novi Sad incident last November, some blamed what had happened on more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic – who closely associated himself with the station’s prior renovation.

It was considered a key part of the government’s flagship infrastructure project – the high-speed line from Belgrade to Budapest in Hungary.

The demonstrations that followed the disaster saw attendees use the slogan “corruption kills”.

They claimed that the opaque procurement procedures the government used for infrastructure projects had enriched a few favoured contractors while putting public safety at risk.

Despite multiple resignations – and Vucic’s insistence that he was going nowhere – protests grew.

Last month, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia’s capital.

An independent monitor estimated 325,000 – if not more – had gathered, making it Serbia’s largest protest ever.