Ever since the opposition announced the “Serbia against violence” protest rally Saturday, pro-government tabloids have published a series of articles, ie pamphlets, targetting representatives of the opposition and presenting them as “thugs”.
Kurir daily published an article titled „DO YOU WANT TO SHOOT TOO? Part of the opposition threatens the state: If you don’t fulfil our demands, WE WILL TAKE MEASURES ADEQUATE TO THE POWER OF THE TRAGEDY.“
They state that the opposition is using the moment for a political fight and that „now they are counting on the citizens’ overwhelmed emotions.“
„Hence the big words: ‘They will take measures that are adequate to the power and magnitude of this tragedy.’ What does this mean? Will they shoot? Will they kill seventeen people? We are all appalled by examples of children imitating criminals. And these are supposedly mature and responsible people! It is pitiful and miserable to threaten new bloodshed in Serbia, today!“, says the Kurir text, which, like other tabloids, is not a journalistic text but in the form of a commentary or a political pamphlet.
Other newspapers and their portals also published headlines such as „The opposition calls for riots,“ „They are using the tragedy for cheap points,“ „For years they have been creating a sick atmosphere that favours the emergence of tragedies,“ etc.
Many of these almost identical texts published on different portals are often unsigned, and it is impossible to determine the source or who published them first.
„It is a big problem when people are unaware of themselves or their actions. There are a million examples when the same quasi-patriotic gang that ‘advocates for peace’ provoked violence on the streets, demolition of the Assembly premises, demolition of cars, fights in the Assembly, death threats to the President of Serbia…“, reads the text published on the Informer portal.
It adds that „by promoting and practising verbal and physical violence, the opposition has been creating a sick atmosphere in society for many years, which favours the occurrence of tragedies.”
„Serbia is strong today, thanks to President Vucic. Today, it is strongly united because of ALEKSANDR VUCIC. Aleksandar Vucic gave us back our dignity and some peace. Long live Serbia! Stop the violence!,“ says at the end of one of these supposedly „journalistic articles.“
In one of the tabloids, Miroslav Aleksic is directly called out for publicly calling for violence.
“Our question for you, Miki, is: Does that mean he will pick up a gun and start shooting? As a ‘citizen’ against his political opponents? Until now, the people have only stayed away from such people, because there is no need to have anything to do with such an ignorant and hypocritical person. But what happens when that ignorant person announces a brutal attack in order to achieve his goals?,“ it added.
The tabloids state that „such politicians don’t shy away from anything, it’s just important to get what they need. We wonder what the next step is, how far he will go and whether Aleksic’s words are actually a warning“.
„And while Vucic is taking all measures to protect the citizens of Serbia, Aleksic wants to play the game of war. Too bad, Aleksic, however, we didn’t expect anything else from them. The student surpassed the teacher,“ states one of the propaganda pamphlets.