Vucic: There will be no transitional gov't of swindlers, I will not agree to blackmail

BELGRADE - There will be no transitional government of swindlers without elections, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday evening, noting that such a government would include the "worst people in this country."

In a public address ahead of Saturday's protest in Belgrade, Vucic said opposition representatives had rejected all forms of normal dialogue, requesting to join the government without the citizens' permission.

He said the opposition had seemed to believe that, with March 15 approaching, the pressure on him would be strong enough to make him change his position.

Vucic noted that there would be no such government as long as he was alive and that he had made that oath, and had also confirmed it, on several occasions.

"Just to make it completely clear that I will not agree to blackmail, I will not agree to pressure. I am president of Serbia and I will not allow rules in this country to be set in the streets, and I will not let the streets set a catastrophic future for this country. I have fought for this country for 13 years," Vucic said.

Appealing for Saturday's protest to pass peacefully, Vucic called on state authorities not to use force except when necessary, and added that government authorities would take all necessary measures to ensure peace and stability.

He also said he was greatly unsettled by a police report that Molotov cocktails, baseball bats and balaclavas had been found in a stolen car from Bosnia and Herzegovina parked near the building of the national public broadcaster, RTS, in central Belgrade.