Serbian President Vucic: State will respond to hooligan protesters

Serbia will respond to "hooligan" protesters and those rallied by the opposition, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Paris on Friday.

Following a video conference meeting with the leaders of France, Germany and Kosovo Albanians, Vucic commented on this week's unrest in Serbia.

"We will not touch" peaceful protesters, he said, but added that it was irresponsible for people to gather on the streets during a global pandemic.

Spontaneous protests started on Tuesday when Vucic announced that Belgrade would be placed under a new three-day lockdown following a second wave of confirmed coronavirus infections.

The protests then mushroomed into wider frustration with Vucic’s increasingly authoritarian rule.

Vucic said no one will take power in Serbia by force, adding that the only outcome of the protests is that "people will die" from the coronavirus.

The Serbian president went to Paris for long-stalled talks to normalise ties between Serbia and Kosovo more than 20 years after Belgrade sent troops into its then-province to crush a separatist uprising.

The leaders of Germany and France led a fresh effort Friday to breathe life into the talks.

Speaking after the meeting, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said “we had really tough negotiations,” and that he told Macron and Merkel that if Kosovo's independence "is what they want to talk about, then these talks are completely meaningless.”

Serbia's president said the Europeans have unrealistic expectations.

(Representative Image)