Serbia's president calls for 'order' after student protests
Belgrade: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday called for "order and peace" to be restored to the Balkan country, which has been rocked by months of large anti-corruption protests.
Addressing a crowd of thousands of right-wing and nationalist supporters in Belgrade, Vucic said the student-led protesters had "inflicted huge evil on Serbia in the past five months."
The right-wing populist also repeated claims that the movement to oust him was being led by unnamed foreign actors.
"The attack came from abroad," Vucic told the crowd in the Serbian capital, many of whom were bussed in from across Serbia, as well as neighboring Kosovo and Bosnia.
"We will not allow those from outside and inside Serbia to destroy our state," he said.
Why was the nationalist rally being held?
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban addressed the rally through a video message, telling the crowd that "foreign powers want to tell Serbs how to live."
Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik, who is wanted by Bosnia's authorities over his separatist policies, also spoke to the crowd.
He said that Vucic "is today the only man who can hold together a strong and powerful Serbia, both in domestic and foreign policy... especially in these very unstable times."
The rally was called to counter recent massive demonstrations that have swept the country since November, when a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people.
The accident has been widely blamed on corruption and shoddy renovation works.
On March 15, between 275,000 and 325,000 people turned out in Belgrade in one of the largest protests in Serbia's history.
What else did Vucic say during the rally?
Vucic has accused the protesters of destabilising the country and of receiving payments from "foreign intelligence agencies."
During his speech on Saturday evening, the Serbian president said "certain foreign powers cannot bear to see a free, independent and sovereign Serbia."
Vucic also announced a new political movement that he said would "bring new energy" to the Balkan nation.
"Each worker, each farmer is welcome; each person who earns an honest living, and fights for his children and his country, is welcome," he said.
Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have been in power for more than 10 years.
Critics have accused Vucic and the SNS of curbing democratic freedoms in the country, which harbours ambitions of joining the European Union.
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