Frequent reports of bombs, allegedly placed in Belgrade schools, were used on Friday to accuse each other of the opposition and the ruling party in the election campaign for early elections scheduled for December 17, after bombs were also reported in Belgrade kindergartens.
The electoral list of the pro-European opposition coalition “Serbia against violence” assessed that the government of the Serbian Progressive Party is unable to solve the problem of reports of bombs in schools, which “have become a daily occurrence”, while the ruling party is simultaneously looking for culprits among political opponents.
These views were preceded by the statement of the resigned mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, who asserted that reports of bombs in schools were “motivated by the elections” and “the desire of some to gain office”.
The leader of the “Serbia Against Violence” list in the December 17 elections for councilors in the Belgrade Assembly, Mila Popović, publicly requested on Friday that Šapić “immediately forward all of his knowledge regarding reports of bombs in schools and kindergartens to his party colleague, Minister of Police Bratislav Gašić “, and to the temporary city administration that leads the Serbian capital until the outcome of early elections.
As Popović states in the press release, Šapić is obliged to explain this to “citizens who are, rightly, upset and scared”.
She concluded that “anything but concrete and publicly available information about who is behind the bomb reports will be just another proof of Šapić’s willingness to abuse the safety of children.”
Schools, faculties, the airport, courts, hospitals and certain media houses have been the target of anonymous reports about planted bombs in the last few months, and although all the reports turned out to be false, the news creates discomfort in the public, especially after the tragedy in the Belgrade elementary school school and mass murder in two villages near Belgrade.
The series of previous reports on Friday was extended to several kindergartens in Belgrade.
The opposition responded with a message that citizens will regain trust in the police if they confirm with “clear instructions for employees and parents” that they “have a clear procedure, because everyone’s safety is in their hands.”
The opposition called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police to urgently find and publish who is sending the messages and to punish everyone who reports that bombs were allegedly planted in educational and preschool institutions.
Minister of Education Slavica Đukić Dejanović said on Friday that bomb reports “intrigue everyone in Serbia”, but that “the safety of children comes first”, reports Hina.
