Gun Salute, River Flotilla Vessels’ Parade and Flyover on Occasion of Statehood Day
Wednesday, 14.2.2024 | Culture and traditions
By order of Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces and President of the Republic Aleksandar Vučić, on the occasion of marking Candlemas (Sretenje) - Serbian Statehood Day, today, members of the Serbian Armed Forces Guard have performed gun salutes in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš concurrently.
To the sounds of the Guard's Representative Orchestra, six artillery guns fired ten volleys from the Sava Plateau on Kalemegdan in Belgrade; the performance of the “Niš” Military Orchestra preceded the firing of ten volleys from four guns from the Niš Fortress, and the Police Orchestra of the Ministry of Internal Affairs added to the solemnity of the gun salute in Novi Sad which involved four artillery guns firing ten volleys.
Minister of Defense Miloš Vučević and Minister of Health Dr. Danica Grujičić attended the gun salute performed from the Niš Fortress. State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense Mile Jelić and Deputy Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff Lieutenant General Želimir Glišović attended the gun salute in Belgrade, while Minister of the Interior Bratislav Gašić and State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense Nemanja Starović attended the gun salute in Novi Sad.
Along with the gun salutes, a parade of the River Flotilla vessels took place on the navigation route from the Sava Lake to the Pančevo Bridge in Belgrade, and, from the Žeželj Bridge to the Freedom Bridge in Novi Sad, the citizens being saluted with the traditional ‘manning the rail’ salute by crews of the command, auxiliary, multi-purpose, patrol and landing ships.
On the occasion of the holiday, for the citizens of Serbia, the SAF Air Force and Air Defense flight program has been performed over the cities in the Republic of Serbia today. The MiG-29 and CASA C-295 aircraft flew over Belgrade, Mladenovc, Kragujevac, Kruševac, Niš, Jagodina, Požarevec, Smederevo, Pančevo and Novi Sad, while the residents of Kraljevo, Čačak, Valjevo, Gornji Milanovac, Kruševac and Niš could see the flyover of the H-145 and Mi-35 helicopters in the sky above their cities.
Serbia celebrates the Candlemas Day – the Statehood Day in memory of the day in 1804 when the First Serbian Uprising broke out under the leadership of Vožd Karađorđe and day when the Candlemas Constitution was adopted in 1835.
