

Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin (left). Photo: Zoltan Balogh/EPA.

Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin on Friday said that he would postpone his planned hunger strike against alleged opposition “violence”, after talking to President Aleksandar Vucic – which has not stopped some members of the public from mocking his plans.

“To all those who spent all day yesterday hoping for my early and painful demise, I wish to apologise for not enabling that,” Vulin told the press on Friday.

Vulin had been due to announce the start of his fast at noon, but his press conference was postponed after Vucic invited him for a sudden meeting.

Media reports on Thursday said that Vulin would be joined on his hunger strike by Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic and 30 MPs of the ruling majority in the Serbian parliament. They all gave up on the idea on Friday.

The officials had planned to stop eating in protest against the weekly protests against Vucic’s rule that have been taking place in Serbia since December 2018. Vulin and Vesic have accused protesters of “violence” and “hooliganism”.

Some Serbs joked that they were disappointed Vulin was not fasting to the very end.

“Vulin and Vesic announced a hunger strike? You have our support to last until the end!” one user wrote on Twitter.

Vulin i Vesic najavili strajk gladju.

Imate nasu punu podrsku da istrajete do kraja! — Alf (@el_comandante5) April 12, 2019

“Vulin’s and Vesic’s hunger strike is by far the most bizarre event in the seven years since Vucic came to power,” said another.

Some shared a video clip of the popular Bosnian 1990s absurdist and satirical show “Top lista nadrealista”, in which government officials go on hunger strike against miners who have demanded salaries.

The comedy website Njuz.net published a satirical piece saying that Vulin would be joined in his hunger strike by his 30 other personalities. The Bosnian news website Buka.com said that the idea was “never seen before”.

The Serbian Army Union mockingly announced that it would join Vulin on his hunger strike, “motivated exclusively by violations of human rights, the constitution, UN charters, union rights, plunder of the [state] budget and torture under Minister Vulin over the past three years”.

“His theatre of the absurd shadows even a Pythonesque sense of humour,” the Army Union said in a press release, adding that the minister’s antics were damaging Serbia’s reputation.