By Aleksandar Vasovic
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters, mainly students, descended on Belgrade on Friday ahead of a planned weekend of massive anti-government rallies, many travelling hundreds of miles on foot or by bike.
In a sign of the potential for unrest, President Alexandar Vucic’s outgoing prime minister, who has already submitted his resignation over the protests, made a veiled threat to use force to suppress rallies expected to be among the biggest for years.
Live broadcasts showed people cheering and waving Serbian flags as hundreds of students entered Baric, a community inside the Belgrade city limits. Similar student columns were seen entering other Belgrade suburbs to meet in the city centre.
The rallies are expected to be the biggest since near daily protests began following the deaths of 15 people when a roof at a railway station collapsed on Nov 1 in the northern city of Novi Sad, a disaster opponents blame on corruption under Vucic.
Students, teachers, farmers, and workers have joined the demonstrations in a major challenge to Vucic, a populist, in power for 12 years as prime minister or president.
Throngs of Vucic loyalists have arrived in Belgrade this week to camp near his office in the centre of the city. They brought tractors overnight to surround their camp.
In a televised address, outgoing Prime Minister Milos Vucevic said police would intervene in case of violence:
“The state has … the apparatus of force, please do not provoke it,” he said.
Vucic’s office said the president would address the nation at 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT).
Patriarch Porfirije, the head of the dominant Serbian Orthodox Church, called for “everyone, without exception, to reject violence”.
Last December, students issued a set of demands that included the release of documents related to the railway station disaster and accountability for those responsible.
Prosecutors have charged 13 people over the disaster, and the government has announced an anti-corruption campaign.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Peter Graff)
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