More than 100 schools in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade received bomb threats yesterday.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 97 elementary schools and a number of high schools received emailed bomb threats that have since been proven to be fake. Classes have now resumed in those schools.
The Ministry of Education confirmed that dozens of schools in the city were evacuated, with a press release explaining that police had searched 97 schools without finding any explosive devices.
The false bomb threats were reportedly sent as early as 6.15 in the morning.
Belgrade’s Beogradjanka skyscraper was also evacuated, while police and firefighters searched the premises. The 23-storey building hosts a number of shops and offices; security guards told reporters that a bomb threat had been sent to a private school in the building.
The Belgrade waterworks reportedly also received bomb threats, as did a sports stadium.
Journalists from the Beta news agency also left their building temporarily, after a school in the same building received a bomb threat.
According to some reports, authorities also received bomb threats regarding explosive devices planted on bridges and in shopping malls throughout Belgrade. Police blocked traffic over Belgrade’s bridges during rush hour, leading to a major gridlock.
False threats of bombs planted in public buildings, shopping malls and public spaces have risen in occurrence in Serbia in recent weeks. In the southern city of Niš, the airport there received a bomb threat on 16 May; two days previous, the New Belgrade Railway Station and Belgrade Zoo received similar threats.
“Even though the threats seem to be false, we should not take them lightly,” said Branko Ruzic, a Serbian government minister from the Socialist Party of Serbia.
Over the last two months, Serbian air carrier Air Serbia has been the subject of several bomb threats in connection with continued flights between Belgrade and Moscow.
Authorities have not yet confirmed who is behind these latest bomb threats, though Serbian tabloids have been quick to pin the bomb threats on foreign sources due to Serbia’s refusal to introduce sanctions against Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine.
Serbia’s pro-Russia Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin appeared to agree with this theory, telling reporters that “Serbia is the target of a special warfare that comes from different European addresses.”
According to military analyst Aleksandar Radić, these newest threats likely came from within Serbia.
“We can already look for scoundrels in our ranks here,” Radic told reporters, calling for those responsible to be severely sanctioned, “their example must show that such threats imply harsh punishments.”
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