BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian authorities on Sunday displayed many of the 13,500 weapons they said people have turned in since mass shootings this month, including hand grenades, automatic weapons and anti-tank rocket launchers.
Authorities have declared a one-month amnesty period for citizens to turn in unregistered weapons and avoid prison terms, as part of a disarmament campaign following two mass shootings that left 17 dead, many of them children.
Populist President Aleksandar Vucic accompanied police officers on Sunday at an arms exhibition near the town of Smederevo, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of the capital Belgrade.
Vucic said about half of the weapons collected were illegal and the other half were registered weapons that citizens had turned in anyway. They will all go to Serbian arms and ammunition factories to determine whether the armed forces can use them.
“From June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and the sanctions will be very strict,” he said of the period after the amnesty. “Why does anyone need an automatic weapon? Or all these weapons?
It is estimated that Serbia is one of the European countries with the most weapons per person. Many are inherited from the 1990 wars and are in illegal possession.
Controls on gun owners and shooting ranges will also be tightened.
The authorities launched the disarmament campaign after a 13-year-old boy took his father’s gun on May 3 and shot his classmates at a primary school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man used an automatic weapon to shoot at random in a rural area south of Belgrade.
The shootings left 17 dead and 21 injured, shocked the country and prompted calls for change after decades of crisis and instability.
Tens of thousands of people have marched in two protests in Belgrade since the shootings, calling for the resignation of government ministers and a ban on television stations that promote violent content and show war criminals and criminals.
Vucic rejected on Sunday opposition calls for the resignation of interior minister Bratislav Gasic, who also attended the exhibition of handed-over weapons. But the president suggested that the government could step down and announce early elections at a march he has called for May 26 in Belgrade.
“We have no intention of replacing Gasic, who is doing a great job,” Vucic said. “What have the police done wrong?”
The opposition has accused the Vucic-appointed populist authorities of stoking violence and hate speech against their critics, spreading propaganda in mainstream media and imposing autocratic control over institutions, which they say exacerbates divisions in society.
Protesters blocked a major bridge and highway in the capital on Friday to press their demands. Protests have also been held in other Serbian cities and towns, in a show of mourning and outrage over the shootings and the populist authorities.
Vucic has described the blockade of the bridge as harassment, while he and other officials and media under his control have tried to minimize attendance at the protests.