AP: Clashes Between Protesters, Loyalists of Autocratic President Aleksandar Vučić, and Police on Serbia’s Streets
Thousands of anti-government protesters returned to the streets of Serbia tonight after two days of clashes with loyalists of autocratic President Aleksandar Vučić and riot police, in which dozens of people were injured or detained, AP reports this evening.
In the northern city of Novi Sad, where the uprising against Vučić in Serbia began more than nine months ago, groups of young protesters shouted “He’s finished” while destroying the offices of the president’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), the agency writes.
The agency reports that protesters smashed the windows of the office in the city center and took away some documents and pieces of furniture, with no Vučić supporters in sight, who had guarded the premises for months.
Riots Across Serbia this week marked a serious escalation of the mostly peaceful demonstrations led by students that have shaken Vučić’s firm grip on power in the Balkan country, AP adds.
The agency writes that yesterday opposing groups threw stones and bottles at each other amid clouds of smoke and chaos, and that at one point a military security officer near the SNS office fired a pistol into the air, later saying his life had been in danger – reports Danas.rs.
Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said today that gatherings took place in about 90 locations across the country the previous evening.
The Serbian president faces accusations of stifling democratic freedoms and allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish in a country that is a candidate for EU membership – allegations he denies, AP notes.
The agency relays the words of EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, who said reports of violence were “very concerning.”
Large numbers of protesters again gathered tonight in the capital Belgrade, Novi Sad, and some smaller towns, defying sharp warnings against protests from Vučić and other government officials.
Students, via the X network, accused the authorities of trying to “provoke a civil war through clashes” with protesters. The gatherings have so far been mostly incident-free, even when attracting hundreds of thousands of people, AP writes.
Occasional violence in recent months has mostly involved incidents between protesters and police rather than between rival groups, the agency adds.
The agency reports a statement from the informal group Students in Blockade that police are protecting regime loyalists who have thrown stones and fired flares at protesters, noting that the account is run by students from all over Serbia who have been protesting against the government since last year.
The agency recalls that the demonstrations began in November when a canopy at the renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people, which sparked allegations of corruption in state-led infrastructure projects.
Protesters are demanding that Vučić call early parliamentary elections, which he has refused to do, AP notes, adding that Serbia is formally seeking EU membership but that Vučić maintains strong ties with Russia and China.
