In this picture supplied by the Serbian Presidential Press Service, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, inspects weapons collected as a part of an amnesty close to town of Smederevo, Serbia, Sunday, May 14, 2023.

AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

AP

In this picture supplied by the Serbian Presidential Press Service, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, left, inspects weapons collected as a part of an amnesty close to town of Smederevo, Serbia, Sunday, May 14, 2023.

AP

BELGRADE, Serbia — Authorities in Serbia on Sunday displayed stacks of weapons and cartons of hand grenades from the hundreds of weapons, together with anti-tank rocket launchers, that they stated folks handed over since back-to-back mass shootings surprised the Balkan nation.

The authorities declared a one-month amnesty interval for residents to give up unregistered weapons as a part of a crackdown on weapons following the 2 shootings in two days this month that left 17 folks useless, lots of them kids.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose authorities has confronted public pressure within the wake of the separate shootings at a Belgrade school and in two villages, accompanied prime police officers to view the assortment of arms arrayed close to the city of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital.

Officials stated residents had turned over about 13,500 gadgets for the reason that amnesty opened on May 8.

Photos from the scene confirmed strains of rifles, computerized weapons and pistols stacked neatly on the ground in a warehouse together with picket bins stuffed with hand grenades.

Serbia has tens of hundreds of weapons introduced in from the battlefields of the 1990’s wars within the Balkans. Similar weapons amnesties have been held prior to now with solely restricted success.

Vucic stated that roughly half of the arms collected since final week had been held illegally, whereas the opposite half have been registered weapons that residents nonetheless determined to half with. The relinquished weapons will go to Serbian arms and ammunition factories for potential use by the nation’s armed forces, the president stated.

Authorities have stated that folks caught with unlawful weapons as soon as the amnesty interval ends may face jail sentences of as much as 15 years, if they’re convicted.

“After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and punishments will be very strict,” Vucic stated of the post-amnesty interval. “What does anyone need an automatic weapon for? Or all these guns?”

Serbia is estimated to be among the many prime international locations in Europe in registered weapons per capita, and lots of extra are held illegally.

Authorities launched the gun crackdown after a 13-year-old boy on May 3 took his father’s gun and opened hearth on his fellow-students in an elementary college in central Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old man used an computerized weapon to shoot randomly in a rural space south of Belgrade.

Other anti-gun measures introduced by Vucic embody stricter management of gun house owners and capturing ranges. Police officers stated gun house owners will need to have a coded secure during which to retailer their registered weapons and that any weapons not saved correctly can be confiscated.

Officials plan to order inspections of registered addresses “to check whether there exist conditions for safekeeping,” anti-crime division officer Bojana Otovic Pjanovic stated on Serbian state TV community RTS. “If not, the guns will be taken away and punishment will be rigorous.”

Police stated that in among the previous assortment efforts, folks threw their weapons away in rubbish containers or left them unattended as an alternative of bringing them to police stations.

Experts imagine tens of hundreds of unlawful weapons have remained unlicensed and out of attain of authorities.

Police official Otovic Pjanovic insisted that after latest shootings “citizens became aware of the risks of keeping guns at home.”

The two mass capturing left 17 folks useless and 21 wounded, gorgeous the nation and triggering requires adjustments within the nation that has been by means of a long time of turmoil and crises.

Tens of hundreds of individuals have rallied in two protest marches in Belgrade for the reason that shootings, demanding resignations of presidency ministers and a ban on tv stations that promote violent content material and host struggle criminals and crime figures.

Vucic on Sunday rejected opposition requires the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, who was additionally current at Sunday’s weapons show. But the president recommended that the federal government may resign and that he’ll announce an early election at a rally he has deliberate for May 26 in Belgrade.

“We have no intention of replacing (interior minister) Gasic, who is doing a great job,” stated Vucic. “What have police done wrong?”

Opposition politicians have accused authorities of fueling violence and hate speech in opposition to critics, spreading propaganda on mainstream media and imposing autocratic rule in all establishments below Vucic, which they are saying stokes divisions in society.

On Friday, protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and motorway within the capital to press their calls for. Protests even have been held in different Serbian cities and cities, in an outpouring of grief and anger over the shootings and the populist authorities.

Vucic described the bridge blockade as harassment, whereas he and different officers and media below his management sought to downplay the numbers of protesters.