SNS leader Milos Vucevic comments on introducing state of emergency in Serbia

Photo: Tanjug/Milos Milivojevic

SNS leader Milos Vucevic said today that there is no need to introduce a state of emergency in Serbia if blockades and protests continue, but that the state must implement legal norms and laws.

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When asked by journalists whether the state will take more rigorous measures if blockades, destruction of people's property and rioting in the streets continue, and whether introducing a state of emergency is an option, the leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) said that the state does not need to implement more rigorous measures and that there is no need to exaggerate things and talk about a state of emergency because legal norms, laws, the Constitution, and competencies available to state bodies exist.

"What's needed is simply to apply the law and legal norms. And legal norms contains dispositions regarding what one may or may not do, and the second part - which are legal sanctions and what happens when one does not act according to these rules. There is no need at all for any additional radical legal and political measures," Milos Vucevic told a press conference held at the SNS headquarters.

He added that the police and judicial authorities should do their job, work to identify the perpetrators of criminal acts and that the prosecutors must initiate investigations, after which the courts will determine if there is any criminal and legal responsibility.

Vucevic said that things are legally very clearly set and that the state's legal and political system must function.

"And that is our request. To prove that there is responsibility. Because if nobody's held responsible, then you motivate bandits, terrorists, 'blockaders' to continue doing this," said Vucevic.

The SNS leader noted that according to information available to him yesterday, dozens of people have been detained in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Vrbas, Odzaci, and added that he believes the police will continue to detain those suspected of committing serious crimes.

Vucevic said that the "blockaders" gather from different cities in one place and that these are not local citizens who go out to protest, but what he described as the worst kind of hooligans.

"All of this is organized by criminal circles, interest groups, influence factors. They (protesters and rioters) come to places that on that day or that evening designated as a strike point for violence and terror against the citizens of Serbia, against our country. Everything is well organized, well paid for, and supported by the media, with attempts to always justify it," Vucevic said.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)