Serbia's President: I will not leave the country like Syria's Assad did despite growing protests

2024-12-10 19:39:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Serbia's President: I will not leave the country like Syria's Assad

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday accused foreign intelligence services of trying to topple him amid widespread protests in the Balkan state and that he would not leave the country like ousted Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

The Serbian president posted a video message on Instagram saying that "I will fight for Serbia and I will only serve my Serbian people and all other citizens of Serbia. I will never serve foreigners, those who seek to defeat, humiliate and destroy Serbia".

Opponents of the populist leader compared him to Assad, who fled to Moscow after a stunning rebel advance, ending his family's half-century of iron rule.

Opponents of President Vucic in Serbia have compared him to Assad and other world dictators, predicting that he may also try to leave the country if he loses his firm grip on power amid protests sparked by the collapse of a station roof. railway in the northern city of Novi Sad on November 1, which left 15 dead.

Protesters in Novi Sad, Belgrade and other Serbian cities blamed the deadly collapse on rampant corruption in the country, which led to shoddy work on the renovation of the station building in Novi Sad, part of a wider deal with companies Chinese state-owned companies involved in a number of infrastructure projects in the Balkan country.

The roof collapse became a hotbed of wider discontent with President Vu?i?'s increasingly autocratic rule, reflecting public demands for democratic change in the country.

In his post, the Serbian president claims that the spreading protests, which have recently been joined by university students, are funded by the West, with the aim of ousting him and his government from power "with various hybrid tactics used to damaged the country".

"If they think I'm Assad and I'm going to run away, I won't," he said.

President Vucic said that in the coming days and weeks, he would disclose "in full detail how much money has been paid over the last four years to destroy Serbia" and make it a vassal state, "which would not receive own decisions or choose his own future, but instead he would have to listen and serve someone else".

The Balkan country is officially seeking membership in the European Union, while maintaining very close ties with Russia and China. President Vucic, who claims Serbia's political neutrality, has repeatedly vowed never to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its aggression in Ukraine.

In a move that could further hamper Serbia's stated ambitions for EU membership, lawmakers in parliament have begun debating a bill that would create a register of "foreign agents", a copy of a law restricting previously adopted in Russia.

The bill aims to regulate organizations and individuals that receive more than 50 percent of their funding from foreign sources. Critics both inside Serbia and abroad have warned that such a law could stigmatize civil society organizations, hinder their operations and limit freedom of expression./VOA