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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Thursday staged a large-scale navy parade within the capital Belgrade, showcasing tanks, missile programs and fighter jets in what officers described because the nation’s largest show of military energy in its historical past.
President Aleksandar Vucic reviewed the parade, which included about 10,000 troops, saying the present of pressure underscored Serbia’s potential to defend its independence and sovereignty and act as a deterrent towards any international aggressor. Serbia is generally surrounded by NATO-member states.
Columns of troops marched by means of the New Belgrade district of the capital as crowds waved nationwide flags, whereas plane roared overhead.
The occasion featured each domestically produced weapons in addition to rocket launchers from Israel, drones bought from the United Arab Emirates in addition to tanks provided by Russia and anti-aircraft programs from China, reflecting Belgrade’s shut ties with Moscow and Beijing regardless of its declared objective of becoming a member of the European Union.
What caught many of the consideration of navy specialists was the Israeli PULS system, a flexible rocket artillery platform able to launching a variety of munitions with various ranges and payloads. Its vary is as much as 300 kilometers (185 miles), that means it could attain many of the Balkan capitals.
One other shock look was a few the French air pressure’s Rafale fighter jets. Serbia has ordered 12 such multi-purpose plane which might be due for supply within the coming years.
Critics mentioned the parade was designed much less to showcase the energy of the navy than to bolster Vucic’s populist rule that has been challenged by student-led protests and rising worldwide scrutiny of his more and more authoritarian grip on energy.
Opposition leaders accused the federal government of utilizing the military as a political prop, whereas rights teams famous that some state workers have been pressured to attend the parade and have been transported in a whole lot of buses.
A whole lot of college college students and different opposition supporters, who’ve for greater than 10 months staged anti-corruption protests towards Vucic and his authorities, have been prevented by riot police from becoming a member of different spectators of the parade.
Vucic has refused a pupil demand to name an early parliamentary election. He has as an alternative stepped up a crackdown on the protests, which have drawn a whole lot of hundreds of individuals previously months.
The anti-government protests first began in November final yr after a concrete cover collapse at a renovated prepare station within the northern metropolis of Novi Unhappy killed 16 folks. It ignited a nationwide motion searching for justice for the victims and blaming corruption-fueled negligence for the tragedy.
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