Information Minister Boris Bratina’s statement that the police “have the right to beat and kill” young people caused sharp reactions – students say: “Shame on you”, and the opposition demands his dismissal and an apology
Statement by the Minister of Information Boris Bratina da students they are not aware that the police have the right to beat and kill them, and it was given on the very day of the students, it caused strong reactions.
Bratina, in a guest appearance on Tanjug television, stated that students have the right to protest, and that “since Tito came here, it made some sense to let those young people go.”
“And somewhere we all thought it was good that young people could express themselves, and so on. However, at the moment when young people understand something in a very serious way, when someone is able to sell them an anarchist ideology, you know, they are not aware that the police there have the right to beat and kill them,” said the minister.
To the journalist’s remark “not to kill them”, Bratina continued: “Well, no, but how can I tell you, we testify, looking historically, all kinds of things happened.”
Students reacted to Bratina’s statement and told him: Shame on you!
In addition to students, opposition political parties also reacted to the statement.
NPS: Brother should apologize
“The statement that young people ‘are not aware that the police have the right to beat and kill them’ is one of the most shameful, dangerous and monstrous statements that a holder of a public office could make, and it was on Student’s Day, which is commemorated in 1936 when law student Žarko Marinović was killed during a revolutionary student movement protest,” the National Movement of Serbia (NPS) said in a statement.
They demanded that Bratina urgently apologize to all citizens of Serbia, especially young people and students, and that he be replaced immediately.
“A man who, from the position of a minister, normalizes the possibility of the state killing young people on the street using the levers of force, must not remain in public office for a single day longer,” said the NPS.
Đilas: Dismissal and hospitalization of Minister Bratina
The President of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), Dragan Đilas, announced that the “monstrous statement” by Minister Bratina that “the police have the right to beat and kill young people” represents one of the most dangerous and shameful moments in the modern political history of Serbia.
“A man who sits in the Government of the Republic of Serbia and sends a message to students that the state has the right to kill them – cannot remain in that position for a single day. In a country where students are already beaten on the streets, where the police raid universities, the minister is saying that killing is a legitimate means of the state. It is not politics – it is an open threat to its own citizens,” said Đilas.
The Party of Freedom and Justice demanded the immediate dismissal of Boris Bratina, his political and criminal responsibility, but also his “immediate hospitalization as a mentally disturbed person, Djilas added.
Heart: Call for state terror
The Serbia Center Party (SRCE) demanded the immediate resignation and criminal responsibility of the Minister of Information and Telecommunications, Boris Bratina, regarding his statement that students are not aware that the police have the right to beat and kill them.
“These statements by a man who burned EU flags and who now openly announces the liquidation of students as a legal right of the police, represent a direct call to state terror,” said the party.
They asked the competent prosecutor’s office to act ex officio due to, as they stated, the suspicion that Bratina committed several criminal acts – causing panic and disorder and inciting the commission of criminal acts and abuse of force.
“Such a statement addressed to the participants of the protest also represents a direct threat to the lives of a large number of people.”
Source: Vreme
