INTERNACIONAL
Flowers, candles, silence as Serbia marks the 1st anniversary of mass shooting at a Belgrade school
Hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles on Friday to commemorate the victims of Serbia’s first-ever school shooting a year ago that left nine children and a school guard dead and six people wounded.
A somber, silent queue formed on a rainy day outside the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in central Belgrade where a 13-year-old boy is accused of opening fire at his schoolmates with his father’s guns last year.
SCHOOL SHOOTING IN SERBIA KILLS AT LEAST 9 AFTER YOUNG BOY TAKES FATHER’S GUN
The shooting stunned Serbia. The Balkan nation was no stranger to violent crime, but mass shootings are rare, and none had taken place at a school before.
Just a day later, a shooting rampage outside the capital further shocked the country. A 20-year-old man was accused of killing nine and wounding 12 others, mostly young people.
Friday’s vigil formally started at 8:41 a.m., the time of the school shooting last year. Serbian television stations interrupted their broadcasts, showing the text «We remember» on a black screen.
The all-day event near the school also included art installations, a panel discussion and short films about the victims. The street where the school is located is closed to traffic.
The event was titled «Awakening,» a call for introspection in a nation that is yet to come to terms with its role in multiple wars in the 1990s and the culture of violence that has prevailed ever since.
Ninela Radicevic, a mother of a victim, told The Associated Press ahead of the anniversary that society and the government had «rushed to forget» the tragedy. Radicevic, who lost her 11-year-old daughter Ana Bozovic in the shooting, said she hoped Serbia can prevent such a horrific crime from happening again.
«We have missed many chances to react better… (but) I think it is never too late to pause … and to try not to make the same mistakes in the future,» said psychology professor Aleksandar Baucal, who is part of a team behind the commemoration.
The slain children’s parents have fought to have the school closed and turned into a memorial center. They’ve organized protests, remembrance events and testified about their ordeal to promote awareness among the public.
Serbia’s populist government launched a gun crackdown after the shooting, collecting about 80,000 weapons and rounds of ammunition. State-backed support teams offered counseling and police officers were deployed outside schools for security.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram after paying respects Friday that the «unthinkable tragedy has left a permanent scar on the soul of our entire nation.»
Suspects in both of the shootings were apprehended. The alleged school shooter’s parents went on trial in January, charged with teaching their underage son to shoot and with not securing the weapons at the family home. The trial is continuing. The boy has been held in an institution since the attack.
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The trial of the other suspect and his father is to start later this month in the central town of Smederevo.
Shock and anger because of the shootings triggered months of street protests demanding the resignations of top officials and a ban on media that spew hate speech and intolerance.
INTERNACIONAL
Climate activists glue themselves to Munich airport runway, pausing traffic
A group of climate protesters have been arrested in Germany after breaking into an airport and gluing themselves to the runway.
Six activists broke through security fencing at Munich airport in the German state of Bavaria on Saturday, according to the news outlet dpa.
Approximately sixty flights were canceled after the half-dozen protesters glued themselves to the tarmac, forcing officials to temporarily close the airport.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS ARRESTED FOR BLOCKING AIRSTRIP IN MASSACHUSETTS
An additional fourteen flights into Munich were forced to divert to other nearby airports to avoid the disruption.
Climate protest coalition Last Generation took credit for the stunt, claiming it was intended to draw attention to the German government’s inaction on the airline industry’s environmental impact.
CLIMATE GROUP TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR US OPEN CHAOS, OFFERS WARNING: ‘NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET’
All six protesters were arrested and charged by law enforcement.
«Trespassing in the aviation security area is no trivial offense. Over hundreds of thousands of passengers were prevented from a relaxed and punctual start to their Pentecost holiday,» German Airports Association General Manager Ralph Beisel told dpa.
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«Such criminal actions threaten air traffic and harm climate protection because they only cause lack of understanding and anger,» German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote about the protests on social media platform X.
The Munich incident was just one of many similar protests around the world against air transportation. Last Generation has performed at least two similar airport disruptions in Germany since last year.
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