Belgrade, Serbia — Serbians have handed over more than 3,000 illegally-owned weapons and weapons parts in just two days of a mass gun amnesty announced as part of a crackdown on firearm ownership in the wake of two deadly mass shootings. A total of 17 people were killed in the attacks last week, including one at a school, which have brought huge pressure on President Aleksandar Vucic's administration.
Vuvic himself announced the progress of the amnesty campaign on Wednesday, which police had said would apply to guns, grenades, ammunition and other weapons.
Thousands marched in silence earlier this week in a major outpouring of grief and anger against the populist government and how it reacted after the two mass shootings, in which many of the victims were children.
The gatherings in Belgrade and the northern city of Novi Sad were dubbed "Serbia against violence." They were called by opposition parties, which demanded the resignations of government ministers and the withdrawal of licenses to the state-controlled mainstream media that promote violence and often host convicted war criminals and crime figures on their programs.
After the protest officially ended, some of the protesters chanted slogans against Vucic, Serbia's increasingly autocratic president, demanding that he step down, as they passed by government headquarters in Belgrade.
The president later dismissed the protest as "shameful" during an interview on pro-government Happy television. He accused the opposition of abusing people's grief for their political ends and inciting violence.
"It's pure politics," said Vucic, describing the organizers as "vultures."
The shootings — on Wednesday in Belgrade at an elementary school, and on Thursday in a rural area south of the capital — left the nation stunned. They triggered calls to encourage tolerance and rid society of widespread hate speech and a gun culture stemming from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.
The school shooting was the first in Serbia's recent history. A 13-year-old boy took his father's guns and opened fire at the school he attended in the heart of Belgrade, shooting at his peers and killing seven girls, one boy and a school guard.
A day later, a 20-year-old man used an automatic weapon in a shooting rampage in two villages in central Serbia, randomly killing eight people and wounding 14. Prosecutors said that he has confessed to the killings and said he wanted to spread fear among residents, state media have reported.
Education Minister Branko Ruzic submitted his resignation on Sunday and authorities launched the crackdown on illegal gun ownership, but the political opposition said this was too little, too late.
There were no official estimates of crowds that streamed into central Belgrade streets on Monday evening, but observers described the gathering as the biggest in years against Vucic and his government.
"We have to learn anew how to speak to each other and how to create a healthy future ... to nurture the beauty of living, of art, science and humanity," said Biljana Stojkovic, a leader of the leftist Zajedno, or Together, party. "The worst among us have been in power for an entire decade, and they imposed the norms of aggression, intolerance, crime and lies."
Police were deployed in schools throughout Serbia Wednesday in an effort to restore a shaken sense of security as children returned to classes. Teams of experts have been sent with the backing of U.N. children's agency UNICEF, offering support and guidelines for children, their parents and teachers.
Under the amnesty that began on Monday, people can hand in unlicensed guns at police stations without punishment.
Other new gun-control measures include a moratorium on new licenses, strict control of existing ones and the tightening of rules for gun possession, which officials say will leave many current gun owners without weapons.
Independent international surveys have put Serbia among the top countries in Europe for gun ownership per capita. Gun control has been loose since the 1990s Yugoslav wars, when many brought back weapons from battlefields.
Vucic has said there are around 400,000 registered gun owners in Serbia, but many more own guns illegally.
Serbia has never faced up to its role in the conflict against other ethnic groups of the former Yugoslavia. Right-wing and nationalist sentiments have been on the rise and war criminals are regarded as heroes rather than villains, with many retaining public roles after serving their sentences.
On Monday, a group of activists painted a red heart over a mural honoring wartime Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic, who is serving life in prison for genocide in Bosnia on a U.N. court conviction. The mural, located just a few blocks from the school where the shooting took place, surfaced months ago and previous attempts to remove it were thwarted by masked thugs.
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