UK seeking to overthrow Belgrade government – Serb leader

British spy agencies are trying to take advantage of public backlash over two school shootings, Republika Srpska’s president has said

British intelligence services are fomenting public unrest in Serbia in a bid to oust its leader, Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Dodik, who heads a region within Bosnia and Herzegovina that is predominantly populated by Serbs, claimed that the UK’s spy agencies are attempting to leverage two recent mass shootings in Serbian schools, which triggered large protests, to put pressure on the nation’s government.

“I am convinced that the inspirers and producers of this mess in Serbia are the British, that is, their secret services with their Serbian collaborators,” he stated.

He added that the protests have a clearly stated goal of “taking advantage of tragedies and mass murders of young people, so that Aleksandar Vucic would be removed from power through street protests.” 

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Dodik went on to compare the recent unrest in Serbia with similar 2018 protests in Republika Srpska over the death of David Dragicevic, a 21-year-old technology student. The police ruled it an accident, but his parents claimed that he was brutally tortured and murdered and accused law enforcement agencies of a cover-up.

“I am convinced… that in Serbia, as well as here in Republika Srpska, there are the same mentors – members of the British intelligence service,” Dodik stressed, adding that abusing tragedies for political ends would not stop “until the foreign intelligence epicenter in Belgrade is destroyed.” 

Over the weekend, thousands of anti-government demonstrators rallied in Belgrade to protest against what they said was Vucic’s failure to put a stop to violence being promoted in the media.

The campaign was triggered by two school shootings within the span of two days in early May, which claimed the lives of ten and eight people, respectively.