VUČIĆ WROTE A LETTER TO THE FINANCIAL TIMES: “What began as student protests has turned into minor blockades led by extremist groups”

Aleksandar Vučić responded with a letter to the Financial Times editorial in which the esteemed media outlet’s editorial board called on the EU to stop appeasing the “authoritarian leader.”

“The recent editorial ‘The FT View, August 18: Time to stop appeasing Serbia’s authoritarian president’ presents the challenges facing Serbia as a binary choice for the current government: between authoritarianism and a complete surrender to the demands of opposition groups and student protests. This is a false premise — we have always sought to negotiate in good faith,” claims Vučić, who avoided saying that he is now calling for a dialogue with students whom he insults almost daily and calls Ustaše, Nazis, and terrorists, both directly and through his lackeys and pro-regime media, who, like him, act as if they don’t know the definitions of those terms.

At the same time, he accused them of being paid by foreign powers to overthrow the state, equating the state with himself. He even recently stated in an interview with the New York Post that every demonstrator from abroad receives 30 euros per day just for food. Thus, he claimed that it was a large amount of money, yet he refuses to say who is allegedly paying from abroad to overthrow the government.

However, in the letter to the Financial Times, he did not mention these claims about foreigners financing the protests.

In the letter, he said that what “began as student protests has turned into minor blockades led by extremist groups, often marked by vandalism, harassment, and clear attempts to incite unrest and violence.” Thus, he again accused the demonstrators of being extremists without any evidence.

The police did not react brutally

Furthermore, he said that “the police reacted with maximum restraint in difficult circumstances.”

Of course, he did not mention the numerous cases of brutal beatings of demonstrators, including members of their families, by the police and masked thugs whose violence the police turned a blind eye to.

He did not mention that his supporters were the first to throw pyrotechnics at the demonstrators, while the police pretended not to see it.

He did not mention the arbitrary arrests of people just for being seen at the protests, detentions without evidence of any incident. He also did not mention the accusations of police brutality, including threats of rape against a female student. He did not mention that during the street conflicts, not a single representative of the ruling party was arrested for disturbing public order and peace, although there are numerous videos proving that they attacked the gathered citizens.

And he also did not mention the use of a sound cannon, which his officials first said the police did not possess, then that they do have it but it is unpacked in a warehouse, and then that they do use it but only as a megaphone. Let us recall that numerous videos can be found on the internet showing that some kind of sonic weapon was used and caused panic during the large protest on March 15.

What was done in the case of the canopy?

“Before this escalation, the government took significant steps to respond to citizens’ concerns after the tragedy in Novi Sad. We launched criminal and anti-corruption investigations, released thousands of documents related to the renovation of the train station, increased funds for education, and the prime minister accepted political responsibility for the conflicts among young people on this topic by resigning,” Vučić stated.

This is also not true, and everything can be easily checked, because the internet remembers everything. Yes, an investigation was launched, but no one is in prison for the collapse of the canopy; even those who were covered by the investigation were released after a few days. When the prosecutor for organized crime Nenadić launched an investigation into financial malpractice on the railway construction project and when an arrest warrant was issued for former ministers of construction Goran Vesić and Tomislav Momirović, the media controlled by the Serbian president’s office characterized it as a coup d’état. The day after, Vučić organized a session of the National Security Council. As for the resignation of Prime Minister Vučević, it did happen after SNS supporters beat a female student, but a few months later, Aleksandar Vučić pardoned the attackers of that student. He did not mention that these people came out of the SNS premises and then chased the girl, whose jaw they then broke. Vučić called these people heroes who were protecting their home, and then he pardoned them.

What he said about the elections

“Now the demand is for snap elections, even though Serbia held elections in December 2023, and the next ones are planned for 2027. A new prime minister and cabinet have already been appointed, in accordance with the changed needs of the country. The truth is that democracies cannot rewrite election deadlines every time a protest breaks out. Such a practice would be destabilizing, expensive, and harmful to the very citizens the demonstrators allegedly represent,” Vučić claims in the letter to the Financial Times.

Vučić proposed that the crisis be resolved with elections as long as it was politically convenient for him, but the moment it was no longer in his favor, he abandoned that idea.

Let’s recall what the 2023 elections looked like. At that time, it was documented and recorded how voters from neighboring countries were imported and how people were forced to vote for the authorities. Extreme cases were also recorded, such as one where about 50 phantom voters were reported to live in a power substation.

What is the goal of the protest

“The goal of these protests is therefore no longer reform, but obstruction — instability instead of a solution. The government, on the contrary, remains committed to dialogue, stability, and reforms that strengthen democratic institutions. This is the only way that serves the people of Serbia,” says Vučić, forgetting that the main goal that students and demonstrators emphasize is justice for the 16 people who died in the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad, a tragedy that was directly caused by corruption at the highest state level.

The goal of these protests is a reform of society — a complete reform, which will abolish the previous practices based on the criminalization of the system and corruption at the highest level.

The president persistently claims that a minority stands against the majority, but that is not true, because in the past nine months, two massive rallies have been organized where hundreds of thousands of people came out, clearly expressing dissatisfaction with the situation in the country. At the same time, hundreds of protests have been held throughout the country.