Nova Stranka leader Zoran Zivkovic said on Monday that the opposition would counter any attempts at physical violence by the authorities in “ways allowed by law”.

“You have the right to defend yourself when attacked and that is proved in court if need be. You have the right to defend yourself with the weapons you have and are authorised to use. Whether that is words, a stone or something else depends on the other side,” Zivkovic told reporters in the lobby of parliament.  

Zivkovic, a former Yugoslav federal police minister and Serbian Prime Minister, said that an article in Vecernje Novosti daily titled Operation Noose “predicts murders in Serbia, probably the murder of some opposition leader which would be attributed to (President Aleksandar) Vucic as a form of pressure”.  

“My response to the threat against people in the opposition, whoever they meant, is that if they try something similar they will not only be guilty of something happening to someone but also of our response. We will strike back in the same way that the authorities strike at us, not a single millimeter higher or lower,” Zivkovic said.