Vucic on Sound Cannon Affair: I Was the Target, Not the Shooter
President Aleksandar Vucic appeared on a joint special broadcast of three TV channels, calling the sound cannon affair fake and aimed at dividing Serbia. He also announced a new portal for June 29.
- President Aleksandar Vucic appeared on a joint special broadcast by three television channels, aired Saturday from 5:30 p.m.
- Vucic repeated his claim that "I was not the one shooting at them, they were shooting at me" and that the sound cannon affair aimed to destroy Serbia.
- He announced the launch of a portal called "Who Are You," due to be presented on June 29.
- The opposition reacted to the Higher Public Prosecutor's investigation into an alleged staging of the March 15 rally incident.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic appeared Saturday evening on a joint special broadcast by the TV channels Prva, Pink and Informer, which began at 5:30 p.m. and centered on an investigation by state authorities into the allegedly fake “sound cannon” affair. The program focused on proceedings opened against those the government says spread disinformation about an incident at the rally held on March 15 in Belgrade.
In his central message, Vucic repeated a line he has used for weeks. “I was not the one shooting at them, they were shooting at me,” the president said, adding that the aim of the entire affair was to destroy and divide Serbia. He specified that, in his words, he had argued from the very first moment that there was no sound cannon.
What did the president announce?
Alongside his comments on the investigation, Vucic announced the launch of a portal called “Who Are You,” which, according to the announcement, is to be presented on Monday, June 29. The president also used the broadcast to declare that the proceedings would be carried through to the end, and that the state would not give up on establishing responsibility for what the government calls a fabricated affair.
The broadcast itself is part of a wider campaign unfolding ahead of Vidovdan and a rally announced for June 27. Three channels with national frequencies simultaneously carried the president’s appearance, a format the opposition has long criticized as one-sided media treatment that denies the other side equal space.
The investigation that prompted the broadcast was opened before the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade and concerns an alleged staging of the March rally incident. That investigation has triggered sharp reactions from part of the public, because it involves an event over which government and opposition interpretations are entirely opposed.
How did the opposition react?
Savo Manojlovic of the Kreni-Promeni movement reacted to the proceedings, describing the Higher Public Prosecutor’s investigation as a contentious step and part of political pressure. From that perspective, the case is seen not as clearing up the affair but as a continuation of the reckoning with those who took to the streets on March 15.
The gap in interpretations remains fundamental. The government speaks of a fake affair and an attempt to destabilize the state, while the opposition views the rally incident as real and the investigation as a tool of intimidation. Between those two versions stands the prosecution, whose findings, once known, will be judged precisely by how well they withstood political pressure from both sides.
The joint appearance on three channels and the announcement of a new portal show that the government intends to keep the sound cannon affair at the center of public attention through the end of June. The question that remains is whether the investigation will produce an answer both sides accept, or whether, like the March 15 incident itself, it will stay split into two irreconcilable stories. What do you think the public will end up believing?
