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Serbian PM resigns after months of protests

Serbian PM resigns after months of protests

Yahoo28-01-2025
Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned on Tuesday following intense pressure from anti-government protesters over a deadly roof collapse.
The incident at a train station killed 15 people in Serbia's second-largest city in November and sparked widespread outcry as many blamed government corruption for the incident, Euronews reported.
On Monday, tens of thousands of protesters began a 24-hour blockade of a main traffic intersection in Belgrade, leading the country's President Aleksandar Vučić to announce plans for 'an urgent and extensive reconstruction of the government.'
Despite this, Vučević, a key ally of the populist president, announced his resignation, making him the highest-ranking official to quit since protests began. Vučević was also the mayor of Novi Sad, the city where the deadly incident took place, from 2012 to 2022, Euronews wrote.
Vučević's resignation is likely to trigger early parliamentary elections, France24 reported, which the government will decide on in the next 30 days.
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Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert
Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert

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Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert

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Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert
Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert

San Francisco Chronicle​

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Croatian right-wing singer Marko Perkovic and fans perform pro-Nazi salute at massive concert

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A hugely popular right-wing Croatian singer and hundreds of thousands of his fans performed a pro-Nazi World War II salute at a massive concert in Zagreb, drawing criticism. One of Marko Perkovic's most popular songs, played in the late Staurday concert, starts with the dreaded 'For the homeland — Ready!' salute, used by Croatia's Nazi-era puppet Ustasha regime that ran concentration camps at the time. Perkovic, whose stage name is Thompson after a U.S.-made machine gun, had previously said both the song and the salute focus on the 1991-95 ethnic war in Croatia, in which he fought using the American firearm, after the country declared independence from the former Yugoslavia. He says his controversial song is 'a witness of an era.' The 1990s conflict erupted when rebel minority Serbs, backed by neighboring Serbia, took up guns, intending to split from Croatia and unite with Serbia. Perkovic's immense popularity in Croatia reflects prevailing nationalist sentiments in the country 30 years after the war ended. The WWII Ustasha troops in Croatia brutally killed tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and antifascist Croats in a string of concentration camps in the country. Despite documented atrocities, some nationalists still view the Ustasha regime leaders as founders of the independent Croatian state. Organizers said that half a million people attended Perkovic's concert in the Croatian capital. Video footage aired by Croatian media showed many fans displaying pro-Nazi salutes earlier in the day. The salute is punishable by law in Croatia, but courts have ruled Perkovic can use it as part of his song, the Croatian state television HRT said. Perkovic has been banned from performing in some European cities over frequent pro-Nazi references and displays at his gigs. Croatia's Vecernji List daily wrote that the concert's 'supreme organization' has been overshadowed by the use of the salute of a regime that signed off on 'mass executions of people.' Regional N1 television noted that whatever the modern interpretations of the salute may be its roots are 'undoubtedly' in the Ustasha regime era. N1 said that while 'Germans have made a clear cut" from anything Nazi-related 'to prevent crooked interpretations and the return to a dark past ... Croatia is nowhere near that in 2025.' In neighboring Serbia, populist President Aleksandar Vucic criticized Perkovic's concerts as a display 'of support for pro-Nazi values.' Former Serbian liberal leader Boris Tadic said it was a 'great shame for Croatia" and "the European Union' because the concert 'glorifies the killing of members of one nation, in this case Serbian.' Croatia joined the EU in 2013.

Europe's human rights watchdog concerned over use of force against Serbia anti-corruption protesters
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