BELGRADE, Serbia — Serbian authorities on Sunday displayed a lot of round 13,500 weapons they are saying folks have been handed over since this month’s mass shootings, together with hand grenades, automated weapons, and anti-tank rocket launchers.

The authorities have declared a one-month amnesty interval for residents handy over unregistered weapons or face jail sentences as a part of a crackdown on weapons following the 2 mass shootings that left 17 folks useless, a lot of them youngsters.

Populist President Aleksandar Vucic accompanied prime police officers on Sunday for the weapons’ show close to the city of Smederevo, some 30 miles south of the capital, Belgrade.

Vucic stated the roughly half of the weapons collected had been unlawful whereas the opposite half had been registered weapons that residents nonetheless handed over. He added the weapons will go to Serbia’s arms and ammunitions factories for potential use by the armed forces.

“After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and punishments will be very strict,” he stated of the post-amnesty interval. “What does anyone need an automatic weapon for? Or all these guns?”

Serbia is estimated to be among the many prime international locations in Europe in weapons per capita. Many are left over from the wars of the Nineteen Nineties and held illegally.

PHOTOS: Serbia: 13,500 weapons collected in amnesty, together with rocket launchers

Other anti-gun measures are to incorporate stricter controls of gun house owners and capturing ranges.

Authorities launched the gun crackdown after a 13-year-old boy on May 3 took his father’s gun and opened hearth on his fellow college students in an elementary college in central Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old used an automated weapon to shoot randomly in a rural space south of Belgrade.

The two mass capturing left 17 folks useless and 21 wounded, beautiful the nation and triggering requires modifications within the nation that has been by means of a long time of turmoil and crises.

Tens of 1000's of individuals have rallied in two protest marches in Belgrade because the shootings, demanding resignations of presidency ministers and a ban on tv stations that promote violent content material and host conflict criminals and crime figures.

Vucic on Sunday rejected opposition requires the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic, who was additionally current at Sunday’s weapons show. But the president prompt that the federal government would possibly resign and that he'll announce an early election at a rally he has deliberate for May 26 in Belgrade.

“We have no intention of replacing (interior minister) Gasic, who is doing a great job,” stated Vucic. “What have police done wrong?”

Opposition politicians have accused Vucic’s populist authorities of fueling violence and hate speech in opposition to critics, spreading propaganda on mainstream media and imposing autocratic rule in all establishments, which they are saying stokes divisions in society.

On Friday, the protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and motorway within the capital to press their calls for. Protests even have been held in different Serbian cities and cities, in an outpouring of grief and anger over the shootings and the populist authorities.

Vucic has described the bridge blockade as harassment, whereas he and different officers and media underneath his management sought to downplay the numbers of protesters.

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