Serbian President Vučić condemns shooting outside parliament as ‘terrorist attack’

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić condemned the shooting and arson incident in front of the country’s parliament building in central Belgrade on Wednesday, in which one person was injured, as a “terrible terrorist attack”.

According to the authorities, a 70-year-old man who fired a gun at one of the tents in the tent camp in front of the parliament, shot a person and then set the tents on fire was quickly caught.

The tent camp was set up by Vučić’s supporters in March in response to student-led protests that have gripped Serbia for almost a year.

Vučić told a press conference in Belgrade on Wednesday that the perpetrator “used a firearm with the aim of endangering the public and it was undoubtedly politically motivated.”

Vučić also showed video footage of the incident and the alleged attacker admitting when arrested that he wanted the police to kill him and that he was “disturbed by the tents” in Belgrade.

In the footage, it is seen that a fire broke out in the tent after a series of explosions resembling gunshots. Several police officers around the tent camp drew their guns and told people to hide.

“It was only a matter of time before this happened,” Vučić said. “There were countless calls for this (shooting),” he added.

Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Lončar said a man was seriously injured after being shot by “a man who thought differently”, but did not provide further details about this statement.

The suspect faces charges of attempted murder, public endangerment and illegal weapons possession, police said.

The incident took place just before a Nov. 1 rally to mark the first anniversary of the deadly concrete awning collapse at a train station in the northern regional capital Novi Sad that killed 16 people, triggering mass student-led anti-corruption protests across the country.