Shots at the Mayor

by Uros Komlenovic

The shootings on Belgrade’s streets usually claim criminals, policemen and businessmen linked to the underworld. But what happened in Belgrade’s Bircaninova street on August 20 shows that mad gunmen will go after prominent people whose only fault is their political engagement

The mayor of Savski Venac municipality, Zdravko Krstic, was heading for work at about 8:00 that morning, when an unidentified young man shot him in the legs from behind. The gunman left without a word, and Krstic was taken to hospital with four bullet wounds.

The Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) issued a statement saying that the shots fired at Krstic (who is a member of that party’s main board) are more proof that political and overall conditions in Serbia are highly unstable and that intimidation and attacks are a regular occurrence which could have unforeseeable consequences. The attack is even more grave, because it comes at the start of the election campaign. The shooting shows that stories of a fight against crime are empty words, and that no one in privileged and protected circles in Serbia is safe, the statement said.

Early this century, elections in Serbia always saw a few deaths, so it would be no surprise if this shooting marks the return to those times. The authorities can’t be excused in this case, because they spent years creating a mood in which violence and crime pay off.