BELGRADE, Serbia — A whole bunch of individuals laid flowers and lit candles on Friday to commemorate the victims of Serbia’s first-ever college taking pictures a 12 months in the past that left 9 kids and a college guard lifeless and 6 individuals wounded.
A somber, silent queue fashioned on a wet day exterior the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary Faculty in central Belgrade the place a 13-year-old boy is accused of opening fireplace at his schoolmates along with his father’s weapons final 12 months.
The taking pictures surprised Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, however mass shootings are uncommon, and none had taken place at a college earlier than.
Only a day later, a taking pictures rampage exterior the capital additional shocked the nation. A 20-year-old man was accused of killing 9 and wounding 12 others, principally younger individuals.
Friday’s vigil formally began at 8:41 a.m., the time of the varsity taking pictures final 12 months. Serbian tv stations interrupted their broadcasts, displaying the textual content “We bear in mind” on a black display.
The all-day occasion close to the varsity additionally included artwork installations, a panel dialogue and brief movies concerning the victims. The road the place the varsity is situated is closed to visitors.
The occasion was titled “Awakening,” a name for introspection in a nation that’s but to come back to phrases with its function in a number of wars within the Nineteen Nineties and the tradition of violence that has prevailed ever since.
Ninela Radicevic, a mom of a sufferer, advised The Related Press forward of the anniversary that society and the federal government had “rushed to overlook” the tragedy. Radicevic, who misplaced her 11-year-old daughter Ana Bozovic within the taking pictures, mentioned she hoped Serbia can forestall such a horrific crime from occurring once more.
“We’ve got missed many probabilities to react higher… (however) I feel it’s by no means too late to pause … and to strive to not make the identical errors sooner or later,” mentioned psychology professor Aleksandar Baucal, who’s a part of a crew behind the commemoration.
The slain kids’s dad and mom have fought to have the varsity closed and was a memorial heart. They’ve organized protests, remembrance occasions and testified about their ordeal to advertise consciousness among the many public.
Serbia’s populist authorities launched a gun crackdown after the taking pictures, accumulating about 80,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition. State-backed assist groups supplied counseling and law enforcement officials have been deployed exterior colleges for safety.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic mentioned on Instagram after paying respects Friday that the “unthinkable tragedy has left a everlasting scar on the soul of our total nation.”
Suspects in each of the shootings have been apprehended. The alleged college shooter’s dad and mom went on trial in January, charged with educating their underage son to shoot and with not securing the weapons on the household dwelling. The trial is continuous. The boy has been held in an establishment because the assault.
The trial of the opposite suspect and his father is to start out later this month within the central city of Smederevo.
Shock and anger due to the shootings triggered months of road protests demanding the resignations of high officers and a ban on media that spew hate speech and intolerance.
