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Serbia holds biggest opposition protest in years

05 February 2011 16:07 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Tens of thousands of Serbian opposition supporters gathered in Belgrade on Saturday to protest economic hardship, corruption and demand early elections from President Boris Tadic, Monsters and Critics reported.
The opposition bloc led by the nationalist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) threatened to launch continuous protests if Tadic ignores the call for the polls.
’We give them two months. If the bullies continue refusing to listen, then in April you will see me here, sitting on a piece of styrofoam,’ SNS president Tomislav Nikolic told the crowd.
Speakers at the rally criticized Tadic’s ruling coalition for the recession, blasting the administration as incompetent and corrupt. Nikolic’s deputy, Aleksandar Vucic, said that if elections are not called within the deadline, the SNS would embark on a sit-in.
’In two months we will come here in an even larger number, sit down and not move until we achieve our goal,’ he said.
According to police, some 50,000 attended the protest in central Belgrade. That fell short of 70,000 the SNS - which organized free bus and train transports from all over the country - had anticipated. The rally was held amid a massive police presence throughout the city. No incidents were reported as the crowd of mostly middle-aged and elderly demonstrators began to disperse. Parliamentary elections in Serbia are due in 2012, but with the recession taking its toll, the pressure is growing on the authorities.
Teachers and some members of the police force went on strike last week demanding better wages and they may soon be joined by pharmacists and health workers. The government said that the recovery began already in 2010, with economic growth of 1.5 per cent and that it expects a growth rate of at least three per cent in 2011.
That, however, may be too little for the country which is yet to complete the post-Communist transition to a market economy, in which the average monthly wage dropped to the equivalent of 400 dollars, from around 600 three years earlier.