crime
Serbs surrender more than 100,000 illegal weapons
Demonstrators in Belgrade have been taking to the streets against the glorification of violence for weeks. photo
© Milos Miskov/AP
Two killing sprees shook Serbia in May. Since then, people have taken to the streets against the glorification of violence. A government call for arms surrender has now met with success.
After two rampages in May this year that left 18 dead, people in Serbia surrendered a total of 108,833 illegally owned weapons. This was explained by a police spokeswoman in Belgrade, according to the Serbian news agency Tanjug. The government had called for the surrender of the weapons.
The deadline for the penalty-free tax expired at midnight the previous day, after it had already been extended once. According to the police, around 82,400 handguns, around 26,500 mines and other explosive devices, and 4.2 million pieces of ammunition were handed over.
The two killing sprees had deeply shaken Serbian society. Since then, tens of thousands of Serbs have demonstrated weekly against the glorification of violence carried out by pro-government Serbian media.
A similar rally was also announced for this Saturday evening. On May 3, a 13-year-old student shot dead nine classmates and a security guard at his school in central Belgrade. A day later, a young man killed eight people with firearms in a village near Belgrade. The two rampages were not related.
Report at Agency Tanjug, Serbian