Activist Sasa Jankovic, whose office wrote a report on illegal activities during the demolition in Belgrade's Hercegovačka Street seven years ago, told 'Danas' daily that he is not at all surprised by the recent confession of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that he ordered the demolition of illegally built facilities in the Savamala district. Pročitaj više

„I am not surprised at all. Aleksandar Vucic always protects everyone who is part of his team, but whatever he did, that is one of the basic principles of his political tactics. And to repeat what I have already said publicly, I am convinced that he did not really personally order how to demolish, but he is showing his people that he is behind them to the end, because he sees how useful it is for him to show the contrast in relation to the alternative in which there is neither solidarity or togetherness, even when doing the best things,“ Jankovic said, adding that Vucic protects „complete idiots when they are his own.“

When asked whether Vucic had the authority to issue the demolition order and whether all legal procedures regarding illegal buildings were carried out, in the sense that the owners had court rulings that their buildings would be demolished, he said:

„Neither did he ever pay too much attention to legal authority, nor did he hide it, but he turned it into his advantage in a significant part of the people, since hiding behind the law was too often an excuse for others to do nothing and not accept any responsibility. And of course, in Savamala, the legal procedure for demolition was not followed even by chance.“

He said that all the buildings in Herzegovina that were demolished were not illegal.

„Even if they are, and they are not, the state, when it demolishes, must demolish in accordance with the law, and not as a masked gang. And a long time ago, every sense of the word legal was lost in Serbian urban planning. What is illegal – illegal, what is illegal, but is ‘in the process of being legalized’, and what is ‘legal’, and by law it should not be, has not been known for a long time. The only thing that is certain is that those who built and bought ‘legally’ in everything, fared the worst. But that is a separate story,“ he adds.