SERBIA: Man with explosives enters Serb presidency building in Belgrade

Record ID: 356150

  • Title: SERBIA: Man with explosives enters Serb presidency building in Belgrade
  • Date: 22nd May 2009
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (MAY 20, 2009) (REUTERS) U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIEDEN WITH SERB PRESIDENT BORIS TADIC TALKING U.S. VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIEDEN WITH SERB PRESIDENT BORIS TADIC TAKE THE PODIUM TO SPEAK BELGRADE, SERBIA (MAY 21, 2009) (REUTERS) SERBIAN PRESIDENCY BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA34IJO78QTCHG8YAAXJPPA8C3J
  • Story Text: A man with two hand grenades threatened to blow up himself on Thursday (May 21) at the entrance to the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic. There was no information on whether Tadic was in the building.
    "The man is a psychiatric case," a police official said. "He has been isolated and negotiations are under way."
    Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac has arrived on the scene, as well as a police team wearing flak jackets and armed with sub-machine guns.
    The safety pin on one of the two grenades had been pulled out.
    "Talks are still going on with the man who entered the presidency building, I would like to add, he did not enter into the secure area, he entered through the door in the space which is one meter by one meter, where citizens are coming anyway to drop complains or letters to the president, so it's space one by one meter, so let me clear myself ,he did not enter into the secure zone." said Jasmina Stojanov, Serbian President spokeswoman speaking to the media.
    Police sealed off the area around the building in the heart of Belgrade, near parliament and commercial and shopping areas.
    The man, Dragan Maric, 57, who arrived at the entrance of the president's office just before 1000 GMT, owns a private company and has already been known to police for his 80-day hunger strike in 2004, an offer to sell his kidney and a threat to set himself on fire.
    He gave the government a 1400 GMT deadline to respond to his "out-of-court settlement request".
    "A team of skilled negotiators is now talking to him," a police official told Reuters. "He had turned to Tadic, because Tadic was the one who had promised that his Democratic Party will deal with corruption," the official said.
    "He sent his message to 11,000 email addresses this morning, threatening to blow himself up unless the government agreed to an out-of-court settlement of his claims," the official said.
    The bomb threat comes a day after Tadic met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who left Belgrade for Pristina on Thursday on the last leg of his Balkan tour.
    Serbian security forces were on high alert during the visit which was opposed by nationalist parties.
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