Serbian Maidan activists received a crushing blow
The pro-government action “Future of Serbia” that took place the day before in Belgrade became the main topic of discussion in the region. The pro-Western leaders of the Maidan activists – the “Union for Serbia” – have lost another trump card: the widow of the Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovich, who was killed more than a year ago by unknown assailants in Kosovo, came to the rally to support President Aleksandar Vucic.
Let us recall that the deceased Ivanovich fought for the reunification with Serbia of the illegally seized region of Kosovo by Albanian separatists, but at the same time he often criticized official Belgrade.
Ivanovich was killed by unknown assailants on January 16, 2018. The motives, the customer and the performers are still unknown. The investigation continues by Serbian intelligence services. The pro-Western opposition decided to use the tragedy for its own purposes, accusing President Vucic of almost involvement in the death of Ivanovic as a potential competitor for the role of leader of the nation.
Ivanovich’s widow recently stated on the Pink TV channel that speculation was being made on her husband’s name by the opposition. After Ivanovic's assassination, his family received great support from the Serbian President.
On Friday, nearly 150 buses with local Serbs supporting Vucic’s policy towards the region also arrived in Belgrade from the Serbian enclaves of Kosovo.
In addition, there were Serbs from Slavonia (a region in Croatia), from Montenegro and Macedonia, and a large delegation came from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Despite threats from opposition leaders to disrupt the rally, the rally took place, according to Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, “without a single incident.”
The event was widely covered by television channels and news agencies not only in the Balkans, but throughout the world.
The only country in the region where the media did not react to the powerful expression of popular unity was Albania. Of course, the journalistic fraternity of the neighboring country was aware of what was happening in Belgrade. However, they left this topic closed for their viewers and readers.
The rally in support of the Serbian president was also hushed up in Pristina, where the self-proclaimed separatist government of Kosovo sits. At the same time, the Albanian media always provide information support to the protests of Maidan protesters in Belgrade, as was the case a week ago, when the opposition was able to gather only about 7 thousand protesters instead of the promised tens of thousands of their supporters.
“Last Saturday Pristina lied that tens of thousands of people were on the streets of Belgrade and that the day had come to kill Vucic. And neither today, nor yesterday, not a word about the great, smiling Serbia! So why? – comments the Serbian Informer.
Indirectly, this situation confirms the previously voiced version that pro-Western parties are trying to organize Maidan in Serbia in order to weaken Vucic’s position in the negotiations on Kosovo, whose recognition is increasingly demanded by Albanian separatists, who have declared an economic blockade of the Serbian enclaves of the region.
It is interesting that yesterday, Saturday, the opposition again brought its supporters, whose number is becoming smaller day by day, to the previously planned rally from the “1 in 5 million” cycle. This time there were no more than one and a half thousand of them again.
However, no special demands were voiced - the leaders of the “Union” never came, sending actor Branislav Lecic to take the rap. He proposed creating a negotiating team on three main issues, which included demands to free the media from “power pressure”, ensure “fair” elections, etc. Danas reported. The Djilasites gave the authorities another ultimatum: to fulfill the demands by May 4.
The protesters walked from the Moscow Hotel to the building of the RTS television channel, where they sluggishly completed the duty meeting.
Serbian Maidan protesters dealt a crushing blow