Serbia tirany on EuroBasket

[u/ja_sam_5g_antena]

Hey Latvian friends, cheers from Serbia. You might be thinking this post is about Serbian team and basketball, but it is not. If you heard about any Serbian flags being stolen by other fans, the reason is much more sinister than you might think. Tl;dr: Serbian government sent to Riga about 100 thugs to intercept any Serbian fans carrying flags and banners with anti-government writings.

Long story: This is about what is happening in Serbia, and by extension now in Latvia as one of the hosts of EuroBasket. The country is turning into an autocratic state led by Vucic, which is supported by f*cking Russia of course. Protestors are being beeten brutally, arrested and imprisoned for no good reasons and fired from their jobs. Companies not supporting the government are getting vandalized, getting inspections daily and receiving high monetary penalties for anything, even made up charges. There are only two national TV stations which are not government controled and they are being attacked daily.

The Serbian autocrat is trying his hardest to hide this from the world by imposing a media curtain where ever possible. Can you imagine that even the matches of the tennis GOAT Novak Djokovic are no longer televised here because he supports the protestors? Well, to get to the point: the government has sent about 100 thugs to Latvia to intercept any Serbian people with flags and banners containing any wording with protest related slogans. Flags are being forcefully taken and people threatend with beatings and even murder by some accounts.

Is there anything I/we can do, or the Latvian community, to suppres this at least in your country? We feel like your country has survived the horrors of the Russian boot and would understand our strugle.

Thank you!

[u/tautumeita]

Yesterday someone posted about this here on this sub and I hope someone informed the authorities. I was hoping to meet some Serbian fans to chat about what is going on in your country, but I'm scared to speak to the wrong person. The international media is not doing enough to inform people what is going on in more detail. Most information I see just on social media.

[u/TramEatsYouAlive → u/tautumeita]

Yes, I can confirm that our local authorities have been informed: both VP and VDD

[u/ja_sam_5g_antena → u/tautumeita]

I only saw yesterday's post after posting myself... Sorry to double down, but the responses are very reassuring. Thanks a lot! If anybody wants updates on the situation in Serbia, drop me a message

[u/traktoriste → u/ja_sam_5g_antena]

just wanted to say thank you for bringing up the awareness

[u/Brotherhamster → u/tautumeita]

Pretty sure this is the case - security check at entrance today was really thorough

[u/Tasty_Needleworker86]

The one who should not be named is growing paranoid day by day. That explains his desperate measures. Just imagine the cost of sending his own thugs all the way to Latvia just to keep his own people in check. That's our tax money btw.

[u/Fornika_47]

I was at the game yesterday and there was one person in black clothes arrested or so it seems. (Escorted out of the stadium by two security)

Be safe everyone!

[u/lt__]

Group of people is coming from outside Shengen/EU to harass somebody politically and threaten physically? There should be no shortage of legal and operative instruments to prevent and curb that.

[u/Shrike73]

Just an addendum from another Serbian Citizen : Vucic is supported by everyone, Russians, Chinese, Germany, France, EC, USA because he sold us out to everyone only so he could get their support to stay in power. Luckily that is not enough because he battles the toughest enemy there is - the Youth and Brains of Serbia. Thanks and good luck Latvia ! I wish you the gold if Serbia doesn't get it, since news is Bogdanovic's injury will not allow him to play at this Eurobasket anymore. Cheers !