‘All to blame’: Serbia takes stock after mass shootings
By AFP
Published May 6, 2023
People waited Friday to sign a condolence book near the Belgrade school where a 13-year-old shot and killed eight fellow students and a guard - Copyright AFP Oliver Bunic
Miodrag SOVILJ
The arrival of spring is usually a festive, carefree affair in Serbia’s capital Belgrade.
But on Saturday, the onset of the warm season was met with confusion, fear and shock as people wrestled with back-to-back shootings this week that left the country stunned.
People were mulling many questions that ultimately boiled down to a single word — Why?
On Wednesday, the first shooting saw a 13-year-old gun down eight fellow classmates and a beloved security guard at an elementary school in an upscale neighbourhood in downtown Belgrade.
Less than 48 later, it was followed by another shooting spree when a 21-year-old armed with an automatic rifle murdered eight people and injured 14 others in a melee some 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital.
As the weekend began, the trauma wrought by the violence was still palpable.
People continued to queue outside the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school, where they held calla lilies and waited to sign a condolence book near the school’s entrance, which remains sealed off by police.
The pavement has been transformed into a makeshift shrine with mounds of flowers, toys and letters surrounded by pools of melted candle wax.
“I came here with my son, who wanted to pay his last respects to his friends. I think the reality has started to catch up to them,” Zoran Radojicic, a 51-year-old pharmacist, told AFP.
The usually bustling neighbourhood was eerily silent, except for the occasional sound of muffled sobs and shuffling feet.
“We are all to blame for what happened… parents, the government and the education system. It’s our fault that we did not address the issues,” said Todor Dragicevic, a 28-year-old doctor.
– Gun culture –
Serbia has the highest level of civilian gun ownership in Europe, with roughly 39 out of 100 people owning firearms, according to the latest study by the Small Arms Survey research group.
Weapons feature heavily in the Balkan country’s culture, where centuries of occupation, rebellion and war have instilled a martial spirit in the fabric of the nation.
Yet despite the high levels of gun ownership, mass shootings have been rare in Serbia, with school shootings in particular almost nonexistent in the country’s recent history.
President Aleksandar Vucic promised immediate action on Friday, vowing just hours after the second shooting to “disarm” Serbia and crack down on gun ownership.
“We know there will be big problems with this, but less barrels means less danger for our children and our citizens,” Vucic said during a live address to the country.
But even as the president promised to act, some wondered what other underlying issues may have led to the week’s shocking outburst of violence.
“There is much more aggression in society than ever before,” Tamara Dzamonja Ignjatovic, president of the Serbian Psychological Society, told AFP.
– ‘Soften the blow’ –
Pro-government media outlets regularly glorify criminal lifestyles, with convicted gangsters starring in hugely popular TV programmes that are infamous for showcasing gratuitous displays of violence.
During a live interview in 2021, Vucic showed the audience a series of grisly images featuring dismembered bodies, saying it was important for citizens to “see what kind of monsters we’re dealing with”.
The president himself routinely takes to the airways to upbraid his opponents — whether they be rival politicians, other countries or Western powers — with aggressive language and threats.
“Unfortunately, the scandalous manner of behaviour aimed at one human from another is being promoted –- from reality shows to the parliament,” Ignjatovic said.
But even if violence has become the norm on the nation’s airways, the tragedy proved that a gentler character still remains in Serbia.
In the wake of the shootings, people lined up to donate blood while others flocked to memorial services and took to social media to mourn the dead.
“A lot of people have shown solidarity, empathy and readiness to volunteer, which is the most important thing now… to mitigate the consequences of what happened,” Ignjatovic said.
“We can’t turn back time… but we can use all our powers to soften the blow.”
‘We Can’t Believe That’s Happening Here’: Serbia Reflects After Shootings
Back-to-back massacres have forced the country, still in mourning, to grapple with its complicated and long gun tradition.
Stefan Markovic, a construction worker who lost several friends in one of the shootings, said the rate of gun ownership in Serbia was too high to be significantly reduced.Credit...Vladimir Zivojinovic for The New York Times
It was an ambitious promise, but one that might be difficult to fulfill in a country with a tradition of owning guns and with vast quantities of illegal weapons that are difficult to track.
The high rate of gun ownership is largely a legacy of the wars that came after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, as well as a “tough guy” culture, said Bojan Elek, the deputy director at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy. In Serbia, especially in the countryside, he said, guns are used to celebrate weddings and birthdays and are considered a means of self-protection.
“We’re very skeptical about these newly announced measures,” Mr. Elek said, noting that those affected would primarily be legal gun owners who were already ready to turn in their firearms. “Those who illegally own weapons won’t be affected.”
In Dubona, one of two farming villages south of Belgrade where shootings occurred, residents expressed doubts about the possible disarmament of the country — and their own willingness to participate.
“There’s no way he can implement this,” Stefan Markovic, 29, a construction worker from Dubona, said of the Serbian president’s promises. “Nobody can do anything about this.”
Mr. Markovic, who lost several friends in the shooting, said the rate of gun ownership was too high to be significantly reduced. He estimated that the bulk of Dubona residents have a gun, although few have licenses. Asked if he had a gun, he smiled approvingly.
Mr. Elek said the culture of gun ownership for self-protection dated hundreds of years, when populations in the region tried to resist the Ottoman Empire. It has been further entrenched by the legacy of two world wars and the conflicts surrounding the breakup of Yugoslavia.
He added that guns were also part of longtime traditions that have disappeared in big cities but remain in the countryside, with people firing into the air to commemorate special occasions. Mr. Elek said one such tradition, during weddings, consisted of putting an apple on the top of a house and shooting it with a gun.
In Dubona, Maria Todorovic, Mr. Todorovic’s sister, acknowledged the need for changes. “Something has to be done regarding the guns,” she said. “Otherwise, where will it lead us?”
But she added that guns were so ingrained in their culture that she sometimes tended to forget how dangerous they could be.
Ms. Todorovic said she was in the family’s home garden when the gunman started shooting a few yards away. She said she was not worried at first. “When we heard the gunshots, we thought it was somebody celebrating a birthday.”
Back-to-back massacres have forced the country, still in mourning, to grapple with its complicated and long gun tradition.
A funeral on Saturday in a village south of Belgrade, Serbia, for some of the victims of a shooting days earlier.
Credit...Vladimir Zivojinovic for The New York Times
By Constant Méheut
By Constant Méheut
The New York Times
Reporting from Malo Orasje, Serbia
May 6, 2023
Serbia on Saturday mourned the loss of 17 people in two mass shootings in two days, as the nation grappled with its own culture of guns.
The funerals of several victims took place on Saturday, the second of three official days of mourning for the consecutive killings at a school in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, and in nearby farming villages.
Thousands of Belgrade residents have already paid their respects to the victims of the first shooting on Wednesday, laying flowers and lighting candles that now cover much of a street leading to the school, where a 13-year-old killed eight classmates and a security guard and wounded seven others. A day later, another gunman raced through villages in a car with an assault rifle, killing eight people and wounding at least 14 others.
“We can’t believe that’s happening here,” Milana Vanovac, 56, said as she looked at the impromptu memorials on Saturday. “We thought mass shootings were a problem for other countries, not for us.”
Serbia is grappling with a gun issue that has long been poorly addressed, experts say. The nation ranks third in the world for gun ownership along with Montenegro, with an estimated 39 firearms per 100 people, trailing the United States with 121 and Yemen with 53, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research group.
Promising to directly address the issue, President Aleksandar Vucic vowed sweeping changes to Serbia’s gun laws on Friday, saying he was aiming for the “almost complete disarmament” of the country. Mr. Vucic said the authorities would aim to decrease the number of people who legally own guns, excluding hunting weapons, to up to 40,000 from around 400,000.
Reporting from Malo Orasje, Serbia
May 6, 2023
Serbia on Saturday mourned the loss of 17 people in two mass shootings in two days, as the nation grappled with its own culture of guns.
The funerals of several victims took place on Saturday, the second of three official days of mourning for the consecutive killings at a school in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, and in nearby farming villages.
Thousands of Belgrade residents have already paid their respects to the victims of the first shooting on Wednesday, laying flowers and lighting candles that now cover much of a street leading to the school, where a 13-year-old killed eight classmates and a security guard and wounded seven others. A day later, another gunman raced through villages in a car with an assault rifle, killing eight people and wounding at least 14 others.
“We can’t believe that’s happening here,” Milana Vanovac, 56, said as she looked at the impromptu memorials on Saturday. “We thought mass shootings were a problem for other countries, not for us.”
Serbia is grappling with a gun issue that has long been poorly addressed, experts say. The nation ranks third in the world for gun ownership along with Montenegro, with an estimated 39 firearms per 100 people, trailing the United States with 121 and Yemen with 53, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research group.
Promising to directly address the issue, President Aleksandar Vucic vowed sweeping changes to Serbia’s gun laws on Friday, saying he was aiming for the “almost complete disarmament” of the country. Mr. Vucic said the authorities would aim to decrease the number of people who legally own guns, excluding hunting weapons, to up to 40,000 from around 400,000.
Stefan Markovic, a construction worker who lost several friends in one of the shootings, said the rate of gun ownership in Serbia was too high to be significantly reduced.Credit...Vladimir Zivojinovic for The New York TimesIt was an ambitious promise, but one that might be difficult to fulfill in a country with a tradition of owning guns and with vast quantities of illegal weapons that are difficult to track.
The high rate of gun ownership is largely a legacy of the wars that came after the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, as well as a “tough guy” culture, said Bojan Elek, the deputy director at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy. In Serbia, especially in the countryside, he said, guns are used to celebrate weddings and birthdays and are considered a means of self-protection.
“We’re very skeptical about these newly announced measures,” Mr. Elek said, noting that those affected would primarily be legal gun owners who were already ready to turn in their firearms. “Those who illegally own weapons won’t be affected.”
In Dubona, one of two farming villages south of Belgrade where shootings occurred, residents expressed doubts about the possible disarmament of the country — and their own willingness to participate.
“There’s no way he can implement this,” Stefan Markovic, 29, a construction worker from Dubona, said of the Serbian president’s promises. “Nobody can do anything about this.”
Mr. Markovic, who lost several friends in the shooting, said the rate of gun ownership was too high to be significantly reduced. He estimated that the bulk of Dubona residents have a gun, although few have licenses. Asked if he had a gun, he smiled approvingly.
Forensic investigators searching for evidence near the village of Dubona, Serbia, after a shooting.
Credit...Vladimir Zivojinovic for The New York Times
Several weapons were found during searches of houses associated with the gunman accused of carrying out the shootings on Thursday, the police said. They included an automatic rifle that was not registered, a carbine with optics, a pistol and four hand grenades. Mr. Markovic, who lives near the suspect’s family home, said the suspect’s father, a deputy colonel in the Serbian Army, had “a whole arsenal” of weapons.
The exact number of guns in Serbia, a small country of 6.8 million people, has been difficult to determine. Mr. Elek of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy said the number had decreased over the years. But there were still approximately 2.7 million firearms in civilian hands at the end of 2017, with fewer than half that were registered with the government, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Mr. Vucic, the president, promised a full audit for gun owners that would include drug and psychological tests, enhanced surveillance of shooting ranges and a two-year moratorium on new licenses. He also called for a one-month amnesty for gun owners to surrender illegal weapons without penalty, ahead of more stringent measures.
In Dubona, residents seemed hesitant about turning in their weapons at all. Some said the gunman’s rampage had instead persuaded them to keep their guns for self-protection.
“Imagine if he had come to our house and we didn’t have a gun to protect ourselves,” said Milos Todorovic, who lives with his family down the main street of the village, where bloodstains from the shooting were still visible on Friday. “He comes to your door and kills you.”
Sitting around a garden table, strewn with pastries and small glasses of rakija, a fruit spirit popular in the Balkans, his father nodded in agreement.
Several weapons were found during searches of houses associated with the gunman accused of carrying out the shootings on Thursday, the police said. They included an automatic rifle that was not registered, a carbine with optics, a pistol and four hand grenades. Mr. Markovic, who lives near the suspect’s family home, said the suspect’s father, a deputy colonel in the Serbian Army, had “a whole arsenal” of weapons.
The exact number of guns in Serbia, a small country of 6.8 million people, has been difficult to determine. Mr. Elek of the Belgrade Center for Security Policy said the number had decreased over the years. But there were still approximately 2.7 million firearms in civilian hands at the end of 2017, with fewer than half that were registered with the government, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Mr. Vucic, the president, promised a full audit for gun owners that would include drug and psychological tests, enhanced surveillance of shooting ranges and a two-year moratorium on new licenses. He also called for a one-month amnesty for gun owners to surrender illegal weapons without penalty, ahead of more stringent measures.
In Dubona, residents seemed hesitant about turning in their weapons at all. Some said the gunman’s rampage had instead persuaded them to keep their guns for self-protection.
“Imagine if he had come to our house and we didn’t have a gun to protect ourselves,” said Milos Todorovic, who lives with his family down the main street of the village, where bloodstains from the shooting were still visible on Friday. “He comes to your door and kills you.”
Sitting around a garden table, strewn with pastries and small glasses of rakija, a fruit spirit popular in the Balkans, his father nodded in agreement.
In Dubona, residents seemed hesitant about turning in their weapons at all. Some said the gunman’s rampage had instead persuaded them to keep their guns for self-protection.
Credit...Vladimir Zivojinovic for The New York Times
Mr. Elek said the culture of gun ownership for self-protection dated hundreds of years, when populations in the region tried to resist the Ottoman Empire. It has been further entrenched by the legacy of two world wars and the conflicts surrounding the breakup of Yugoslavia.
He added that guns were also part of longtime traditions that have disappeared in big cities but remain in the countryside, with people firing into the air to commemorate special occasions. Mr. Elek said one such tradition, during weddings, consisted of putting an apple on the top of a house and shooting it with a gun.
In Dubona, Maria Todorovic, Mr. Todorovic’s sister, acknowledged the need for changes. “Something has to be done regarding the guns,” she said. “Otherwise, where will it lead us?”
But she added that guns were so ingrained in their culture that she sometimes tended to forget how dangerous they could be.
Ms. Todorovic said she was in the family’s home garden when the gunman started shooting a few yards away. She said she was not worried at first. “When we heard the gunshots, we thought it was somebody celebrating a birthday.”
Will Serbia clamp down on gun ownership?
Two deadly mass shootings have left Serbia reeling. Will Serbian authorities crack down on legal and illegal gun ownership in the country?
Sanja Kljajic
DW
After Serbia witnessed two deadly mass shootings in just two days, discussions about restricting gun ownership are heating up. And with good reason. According to 2018 estimates by Swiss research project Small Arms Survey, Serbia ranks third in the world in terms of civilian gun ownership per capita, after Yemen and the US. According to the Swiss study, in Serbia there are 39.1 light weapons per hundred persons.
"According to other estimates, at least as many weapons are also in illegal possession," Predrag Petrovic, research director at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCBP), tells DW. "According to official Serbian police data from 2021, there were 920,000 weapons in Serbia at the time — although between 50,000 and 60,000 have since been returned."
Gun culture
Whatever the estimates say, it is believed that many Serbian households possess guns. Security expert Petrovic says the reason for this "gun culture" primarily stems from the numerous wars that were fought on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.
"Some of the weapons from the 1990s were never returned because citizens of the post-Yugoslavian states still do not feel safe today," Petrovic says. "In addition, in the Western Balkans, weapons have traditionally been symbols of power and status; showing one is able to protect oneself and one's family."
Tighter checks announced
Serbia has now announced it will drastically reduce the number of guns in the country. "All people who own weapons — I'm not talking about the roughly 400,000 people with hunting weapons — will be subject to an audit, and then no more than 30,000 to 40,000 guns will be left," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after the recent shootings. "We will almost completely disarm Serbia."
The Serbian government also announced that over the next six months, checks will be conducted to ensure gun owners are storing their arms safely and keeping weapons and ammunition in a place inaccessible to minors and other unauthorized persons.
Two deadly mass shootings have left Serbia reeling. Will Serbian authorities crack down on legal and illegal gun ownership in the country?
Sanja Kljajic
DW
After Serbia witnessed two deadly mass shootings in just two days, discussions about restricting gun ownership are heating up. And with good reason. According to 2018 estimates by Swiss research project Small Arms Survey, Serbia ranks third in the world in terms of civilian gun ownership per capita, after Yemen and the US. According to the Swiss study, in Serbia there are 39.1 light weapons per hundred persons.
"According to other estimates, at least as many weapons are also in illegal possession," Predrag Petrovic, research director at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCBP), tells DW. "According to official Serbian police data from 2021, there were 920,000 weapons in Serbia at the time — although between 50,000 and 60,000 have since been returned."
Gun culture
Whatever the estimates say, it is believed that many Serbian households possess guns. Security expert Petrovic says the reason for this "gun culture" primarily stems from the numerous wars that were fought on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.
"Some of the weapons from the 1990s were never returned because citizens of the post-Yugoslavian states still do not feel safe today," Petrovic says. "In addition, in the Western Balkans, weapons have traditionally been symbols of power and status; showing one is able to protect oneself and one's family."
In 2021, Serbian police estimated there were almost one million privately owned guns in the country
Getty Images/AFP/C. Bouroncle
"People here do not associate safety with government institutions, like the police doing their jobs well, but with having good neighbors and being able to protect themselves," he explains.
"People here do not associate safety with government institutions, like the police doing their jobs well, but with having good neighbors and being able to protect themselves," he explains.
Tighter checks announced
Serbia has now announced it will drastically reduce the number of guns in the country. "All people who own weapons — I'm not talking about the roughly 400,000 people with hunting weapons — will be subject to an audit, and then no more than 30,000 to 40,000 guns will be left," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said after the recent shootings. "We will almost completely disarm Serbia."
The Serbian government also announced that over the next six months, checks will be conducted to ensure gun owners are storing their arms safely and keeping weapons and ammunition in a place inaccessible to minors and other unauthorized persons.
Serbian President Vucic addresses the media after the May 3 shooting
Darko Vojinovic/AP/picture alliance
The procedure for issuing new firearms licenses will be tightened as well. Serbia's Interior Ministry will impose a two-year moratorium on new permits. "We know this will not happen without causing friction — but the fewer rifles there are, the less danger there is for our children and citizens," Vucic said at a press conference after the shooting.
Time for an outright ban?
While tighter controls are appropriate in light of the situation, an outright gun ban makes no sense, argues Dejan Milutinovic of the Professional Association of the Security Sector. "We already have overly strict rules," says Milutinovic. "Weapons are permanently confiscated if there is even the slightest neighborhood dispute. But it is not possible to know in advance whether someone will actually use their weapon."
Private gun ownership rules were last tightened in 2015, says security expert Petrovic. At the time, re-registering weapons became mandatory. Gun owners had to pass tests and justify why they want to keep their guns. But while these rules sound strict on paper, this has not been borne out in practice, and the deadline for registering guns was postponed several times — most recently in 2022 by another two years.
The procedure for issuing new firearms licenses will be tightened as well. Serbia's Interior Ministry will impose a two-year moratorium on new permits. "We know this will not happen without causing friction — but the fewer rifles there are, the less danger there is for our children and citizens," Vucic said at a press conference after the shooting.
Time for an outright ban?
While tighter controls are appropriate in light of the situation, an outright gun ban makes no sense, argues Dejan Milutinovic of the Professional Association of the Security Sector. "We already have overly strict rules," says Milutinovic. "Weapons are permanently confiscated if there is even the slightest neighborhood dispute. But it is not possible to know in advance whether someone will actually use their weapon."
Private gun ownership rules were last tightened in 2015, says security expert Petrovic. At the time, re-registering weapons became mandatory. Gun owners had to pass tests and justify why they want to keep their guns. But while these rules sound strict on paper, this has not been borne out in practice, and the deadline for registering guns was postponed several times — most recently in 2022 by another two years.
Mourners placed flowers near the scene of the school shooting, commemorating the victims
Antonio Bronic/REUTERS
"The responsibility [to better regulate gun ownership] does not lie with Serbian citizens, but state institutions," says Petrovic. These have, however, been quite inconsistent in their approach. "While some weapons were confiscated because the police thought their owners had no reason to keep them, in other cases, gun owners were issued new gun licenses even though they had not given any reasons for owning them," Petrovic says.
Illegal weapons
Registered weapons are one problem. The other are large numbers of unregistered, illegal weapons in Serbia dating back to the wars of the 1990s. "Back then, weapons were distributed en masse to the population, but no one can trace their whereabouts," says Petrovic. The only major effort made to take back some of these guns occurred after the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. At the time, around 50,000 weapons were either confiscated or returned.
"The responsibility [to better regulate gun ownership] does not lie with Serbian citizens, but state institutions," says Petrovic. These have, however, been quite inconsistent in their approach. "While some weapons were confiscated because the police thought their owners had no reason to keep them, in other cases, gun owners were issued new gun licenses even though they had not given any reasons for owning them," Petrovic says.
Illegal weapons
Registered weapons are one problem. The other are large numbers of unregistered, illegal weapons in Serbia dating back to the wars of the 1990s. "Back then, weapons were distributed en masse to the population, but no one can trace their whereabouts," says Petrovic. The only major effort made to take back some of these guns occurred after the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. At the time, around 50,000 weapons were either confiscated or returned.
Long-time opposition politician Zoran Djindjic was assassinated in 2003
picture-alliance/dpa
"What is needed now is a determined campaign to convince citizens they can trust the institutions of the Serbian state to guarantee security — and that they therefore no longer need weapons," says Petrovic.
Dejan Milutinovic of the Professional Association of the Security Sector, meanwhile, believes that most illegal weapons are owned by criminals. He says guns like the automatic rifle used in the shooting on May 4 near the small town of Mladenovac are not ordinarily available for purchase.
"Automatic weapons are only found in military and police barracks. They end up elsewhere either through the negligent actions of soldiers or police officers, or through illegal arms trafficking," says Milutinovic.
Serbians who own illegal weapons now have one month to turn in their guns without facing consequences. President Vucic has threatened those holding on to their weapons, saying "we will find them — and the consequences will be terrible."
This article was translated from German.
"What is needed now is a determined campaign to convince citizens they can trust the institutions of the Serbian state to guarantee security — and that they therefore no longer need weapons," says Petrovic.
Dejan Milutinovic of the Professional Association of the Security Sector, meanwhile, believes that most illegal weapons are owned by criminals. He says guns like the automatic rifle used in the shooting on May 4 near the small town of Mladenovac are not ordinarily available for purchase.
"Automatic weapons are only found in military and police barracks. They end up elsewhere either through the negligent actions of soldiers or police officers, or through illegal arms trafficking," says Milutinovic.
Serbians who own illegal weapons now have one month to turn in their guns without facing consequences. President Vucic has threatened those holding on to their weapons, saying "we will find them — and the consequences will be terrible."
This article was translated from German.
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