Tens of thousands of citizens from all over Serbia arrived in Belgrade to participate in a rally in support of the president of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic who has recently been criticized internally for the way he governs.

The rally is organized by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party under the slogan “Serbia of hope”. The gathering will begin at eight o’clock in the evening. Vucic, announcing the gathering a few days ago, had declared that it would be the largest ever in the recent history of Serbia. He also said that in his speech he will focus on issues concerning the future of the country and his speech will not be divisive.

As reported by the pro-government media, for the transport of Vucic’s supporters to Belgrade, they were hired more than 2,500 buses.

The opposition complains that “the entire state apparatus was mobilized and placed at the service of the ruling party to make the gathering grand as announced by Vucic.”

However, the independent trade union “Nezavisnost” reports that in public services and organizations many workers with blackmail and threats were forced to declare participation in today’s rally.

By general assessment, today’s gathering in Belgrade was organized to form the answer of Aleksandar Vucic in the three mass demonstrations organized by the opposition in the last two weeks. These protests saw tens of thousands of Belgrade citizens take to the streets to express their outrage at the escalation of violence that began in early May with two tragic mass shootings that claimed the lives of 18 people.