Anti-Terror Exercise Shows Off Serbia's Muscle

The joint anti-terrorist military exercise in Serbia on Saturday, called "The Shield", will be broadcast live, Radio Television of Serbia has announced, and will involve more than 500 participants from the security and defence agencies.

Top political leaders from the ruling coalition will be present among the crowd.

The exercise has been promoted in a short video aired on national television and on the website of the Ministry of Defence, in which the narrator asks: "Have you ever wondered how ready we are in case of a terrorist attack?"

The video highlights "the largest tactical demonstration exercise by all security agencies in Serbia," and calls on people to "Come and join us, so that we can stop terrorism together!"

Aleksandar Radic, a military expert, told BIRN that the military demonstration, taking place after the ISIS attacks in Paris, was "a completely understandable practice, used in most European countries, as anti-terrorist activities are a priority for the defence sector.

"What is peculiar in our case is that this exercise will be used by top officials to win the favour of public opinion," Radic added, noting that both the military and the police are routinely used by politicians for media promotion in Serbia.

The director of police, Milorad Veljovic, told the daily newspaper Politika that the aim of the exercise was to "demonstrate the unity of all security services and the whole state".

Inter-departmental problems within the Serbian security services became apparent when the Gendarmerie police - deployed to ensure security at Belgrade Gay Pride on September 28, 2014 - allegedly assaulted Andrej Vucic and Predrag Mali, the brother of the mayor of Belgrade, as well as Vucic's two...