SNS supporters stage torch march in Kragujevac after student rally — banner reads “Ratko Mladić, Serbian hero”

A group of supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) organized a torch march on Saturday evening — the so-called “bakljada” — in Kragujevac, about an hour after the end of the student rally in the city, the Nova.rs portal reports.

According to reports, the supporters gathered on the right bank of the Lepenica river, near the old assembly building, lit torches and unfurled the banner “Ratko Mladić srpski heroj” (“Ratko Mladić, Serbian hero”), while chanting “Aco Srbine”, as television N1 reported.

Before their action, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs appeared with riot-dispersal equipment. Police forces cut off the road to the students’ supporters and did not let them cross to the other side of the river. To journalists’ question of how they knew about the bakljada, the police officers did not answer.

The student rally, which ended an hour earlier, is part of the wave of student protests that have swept Serbia in recent months, while counter-actions by SNS counter-protesters have often accompanied their events.