Grenades and anti-tank grenade launchers among 13,500 weapons surrendered by the Serbs

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (left) inspects weapons collected as part of an amnesty near the city of Smederevo

Serbs surrendered around 13,500 weapons authorities after two mass shootings that shook the country.

Among the weapons handed over are hand grenades, machine guns and anti-tank grenade launchers.

Police have announced a one-month amnesty for Serbs who can turn in unregistered weapons or are sentenced to imprisonment as part of a crackdown on guns following two mass shootings that killed 17 people, many of them children.

Populist President Aleksandar Vučić accompanied high-ranking police officials to pick up weapons on Sunday. near the city of Smederevo, about 30 miles south of the capital, Belgrade.

Mr Vucic said about half of the weapons collected were illegal and the other half were registered weapons that citizens turned in anyway. The weapons will now go to Serbian arms and ammunition factories for potential use by the armed forces.

“After June 8, the state will respond with repressive measures and the penalties will be very severe,” he said of the post-amnesty period. “Why would anyone need an automatic weapon? Or are they all weapons?”

Serbia is considered one of the leading countries in Europe in terms of the number of weapons per capita. Press Service of the President

Serbia is estimated to be among the leading countries in Europe in terms of the number of weapons per capita. Many are left over from the wars of the 1990s and are being held illegally. Other measures to combat firearms include stricter control of gun owners and shooting ranges.

Authorities launched a crackdown on May 3 after a 13-year-old boy took his father's gun and opened fire on fellow students at an elementary school in center of Belgrade. A day later, a 20-year-old accidentally fired an automatic weapon in the countryside south of Belgrade.

Demonstration of protest against violence in Belgrade. Photo: Darko Vojinovic 39;Vladislav Rybnikar' Primary School Photo: Srdjan Stevanović

Two mass shootings killed 17 people and injured 21, shocking the nation and leading to calls for reform in a country that has endured decades of unrest and crisis.

Tens of thousands of people took part in two protest marches in Belgrade after the shooting, demanding the resignation of government ministers and the banning of television stations that promote violence and host war criminals and criminal figures.

Mr Vučić rejected calls from the opposition on Sunday to the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gašić, who also attended Sunday's weapons exhibition. But the president suggested that the government might resign and that he would announce early elections at a rally he had planned for May 26 in Belgrade.

“We are not going to replace (Interior Minister) Gašić, who is doing great job, " Vucic said. «What did the police do wrong?»

On Friday, protesters in Belgrade blocked a key bridge and highway in the capital to defend their demands. Protests were also held in other Serbian cities and towns to protest the shooting and populist authorities.

Mr Vučić called the blockade of the bridge harassment, while he and other official media outlets controlled by him sought to downplay the number of protesters.