politics
March 20, 2026
How Kragujevac is preparing for the SNS rally in Belgrade: Everything is the same as before, but also not...
“No one has to come to my rallies and gatherings if they don't want to,” says Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, claiming that public sector employees are not under pressure to attend the SNS rally on March 21 in Belgrade, and that districts in southern Serbia are exempt from attending because the central ceremony commemorating the start of the NATO bombing in 1999 will be held in Vranje on March 24.
TL;DR
- President Aleksandar Vučić denies pressure on public sector employees to attend the SNS rally on March 21.
- Districts in southern Serbia are excused from attending the rally due to a commemoration event.
- Former SNS official Zoran Mladenović states that preparations for the rally cause stress and that quotas must be met, but they are difficult to fulfill and sometimes falsified.
- Mladenović believes the SNS in Kragujevac no longer enjoys the same support and that attendance is forced.
- Slađan Rakić, a local councilor, states that pressure on public sector employees to attend rallies is reaching a critical point, and past methods of coercion are no longer as effective.
- Rakić notes that employees are exhausted from attending multiple rallies per week and find it hard to simulate support for policies they don't believe in.
- Jovanka Nikolić, editor of "Glas Šumadije," reports on past instances of multiple buses being sent from Kragujevac to SNS rallies and notes the replacement of an SNS official who was deemed not active enough in party events.
- Nikolić mentions that while pressure is not universally applied in public enterprises in Kragujevac, some officials have boasted about attendance at pro-government events.
- An anonymous source suggests a "quiet war" is brewing between the SNS and its coalition partner SPS, with party premises being seized.
- Kragujevac SPS members are reportedly not planning to attend the Belgrade rally in an organized manner, though this could change.
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