The policy of drawing targets has shown its true face. To the people poisoned by Pink and the Informer, we are no more valuable than cockroaches. That's why the bloody shirt is unfortunately the flag of Serbia, Borko Stefanović, leader of the Serbian Left, said in an interview for Deutsche Vele (DW).
DW: The tribune of the Alliance for Serbia in Kruševac ended in the emergency center. The top of the Serbian government pointed out that the attackers were arrested by the quick action of the police, and there, as far as they are concerned, this case has obviously been put to an end. To what extent can we see this physical attack as a new phase in the confrontation between the government and the opposition?
Borko Stefanović: Certainly, this is a new phase of intolerance and general division in society, which was created by the regime. Therefore, the regime is guilty of creating an atmosphere of lynching, persecution and physical attacks. But the group that attacked me didn't do it because of the atmosphere - they got a warrant for it, they followed us, and it was an organized group of people who knew exactly what they were doing. On the one hand, we have an atmosphere of extermination of all who do not think the same, and now also physical attacks, which has all the characteristics of fascism.
And when you get hit in the back of the head with a metal rod - that's attempted murder. It is not violent behavior, as some have characterized it. I am very sorry that the President of Serbia said in his speech that these were minor physical injuries and that there are several versions of the event. There are no more versions except this one: entering the stand, I was attacked from the dark, from behind, knocked to the ground, where they kicked me in the face and body while I was briefly unconscious, and then quickly ran away. So there is no chance that it happened by chance and there is nothing spontaneous about it. The motive can only be political, because it was not an argument, or a fight, or a traffic incident.
DW: We should certainly not forget the murder of Oliver Ivanovic, but the political struggle over the past years has mostly ended in verbal violence. What does this transition to physical violence tell us now?
Stefanovic: It just tells us that the politics of drawing targets has shown its true colors, and that things have gone in a worse direction than they were a few weeks ago. When I and my colleagues from the entire opposition are accused of being traitors, that we have coordination with Haradinaj, that we set a border on Jarinje and Brnjak - which is otherwise a lie - when you try to cover up the control of the media and institutions, huge criminal affairs in which the top of the government is involved , then you enter a phase when people consider it completely legitimate to physically attack representatives of the opposition. To the people who have been poisoned by Pink and the Informer, we are no more valuable than cockroaches. That's why the bloody shirt I showed yesterday is unfortunately the flag of Serbia.
DW: The police soon arrived at the scene and the attackers were arrested a little later. Did you learn anything more about the attackers from them?
Stefanovic: The police told me that the attackers were very well known to them. That they have been arrested several times so far, and that they are people who are close to a "local businessman" who is also close to Bratislav Gašić, who decides on everything that happens in Kruševac. By the way, that was the first thing they told me during my testimony: that these were people they had already arrested, and that they were all unhappy that the judiciary was letting them go free.
DW: Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that the attackers were quickly arrested, and that the state had done its job. Is that the end of the story for you in the opposition?
Stefanovic: Of course not. That story cannot be finished until these people are brought to justice to the full extent, and until the same happens for their principals. Knowing that the killers of Oliver Ivanovic have not been found, nor have many other murders been solved, I am not too optimistic. But, as far as we are concerned politically, this is by no means the end of the story, because they have shown us that they want to stop us, and have shown that the violence that is present like this has only penetrated even deeper into Serbian politics.
In this way, the progressives divided Serbian society into theirs and their enemies. There is no longer a small citizen who grows muscatles on the terrace - he can't do that anymore. You will either be with them or they will come for you. So my task, as well as that of all other colleagues from the opposition, will be to ensure that this does not happen again in Serbia. It will not be easy, because the regime of Aleksandar Vučić produces such violence and divisions in Serbia.
DW: President Vučić often complained that his family was being attacked, and the government reminds that the leaders of the Alliance for Serbia called for rape and hanging.
Stefanovic: None of us has ever insulted the president's family or any other SNS official. I consider it inadmissible and reprehensible. No one from the Alliance for Serbia has ever done that. There were other outbursts, incidents, inappropriate and rude things, for which we apologized. And we think those are mistakes.
But we never received an apology for the hate speech, incitement and drawing a target on our backs by people from the regime, including Aleksandar Vučić. We got nothing even close to an apology. I don't think that everything can end with the arrest of two of the perpetrators, because there were more people involved, that there are no arrests of the masterminds, and that we continue as before with the destruction of people through the tabloids. It is no longer a European society, and since last night it is not even a civilized society, but a society of naked dictatorial power.
DW: What will be the response of the opposition to this new moment in the political struggle that has reached the point of physical violence?
Stefanovic: I am glad that the opposition's response will be unique. Unfortunately, sometimes evil and crime bring people even closer. I'm sorry that sometimes things like this have to happen in order for people to see more clearly where they live and what kind of evil we are fighting against and most importantly what we want to change in Serbia. I therefore expect that we will make some important decisions, not only about political action, but also about election conditions, the lack of peace and security in the country, and how we will operate in the field in the future. This assassination attempt seems to me to have shown that there is no possibility for the opposition to do anything partially. We must stay together and fight for a normal Serbia.
*Borko Stefanović, 1974, is the president of the Left of Serbia, which is part of the opposition Alliance for Serbia. Until 2015, he was a member of the Democratic Party and head of that party's caucus in the National Assembly. Previously, he was political director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and head of the negotiating team for talks with Pristina.
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