Serbian Anti-Migrant Protest Condemned as ‘Disgrace’

Amid silence from other state officials, Serbia's Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, Vladimir Cucic, said a rally held against migrants in Belgrade on Sunday was "a great shame and a disgrace".

Media reports said about 200 people gathered in front of the government building in Belgrade to protest against migrants. A Radio Free Europe report said speakers voiced "concern over the possible migration of migrants to Serbia and the return of those who have passed through Serbia".

They reportedly said that "if the state and the police cannot protect the state, we will" and announced that they would set up more street patrols.

Participants shouted "We do not want migrants", "Serbia for Serbs", "Fence for migrants, liberty for citizens" and other slogans, reports said.

A protest banner unveiled in front of the government building read: "Terrorists are not welcome" and "You will not replace us" - the latter referencing the so-called great replacement theory - a far-right conspiracy theory that claims plans exist to replace historic white European races with non-white immigrants.

After the rally, they held a protest walk in Belgrade during which an unknown person threw a rock at the office of the Commissariat for Migrants and Refugees.

Commissioner Cucic said that "a great effort was made to bring together 200 people who hate" in Belgrade.

"I don't feel humiliated … If this is all the number of xenophobes that can get together at the moment, maybe Serbia has something to be proud of. If 200 is the number of people in Serbia who hate, no one happier than me," Cucic told Beta news agency

Serbia established its Commissariat for Refugees in 1992. Besides more recent waves of migrants from the Middle East, it historically...