Clashes Between Police and Protesters in Belgrade at the "Mass Rally Against Vučić" – Media Reactions
Leading Western news agencies reported tonight on clashes in downtown Belgrade, stating that police used tear gas against anti-government protesters.
The American agency Associated Press reported that riot police “fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government protesters at a major rally against populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.”
Tensions were high both before and during the rally, which was organized in support of demands for early parliamentary elections, AP noted.
The agency added that police were stationed around government buildings and near the “camp of Vučić loyalists” – in Pionirski Park in downtown Belgrade – where “clashes broke out between police officers and groups of protesters.”
The report also mentioned that students, at the end of the official part of the rally, told the crowd to “take freedom into their own hands.”
The French agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Serbian police used tear gas and stun grenades against protesters in central Belgrade, where tens of thousands of people had gathered demanding snap elections.
More than four hours after the start of the protest, clashes erupted between groups of demonstrators, some of whom threw smoke bombs, and security forces who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, according to AFP journalists in Belgrade.
The agency Reuters reported this evening that “Serbian police clashed tonight with anti-government protesters” who are demanding early elections and an end to President Vučić’s 12-year rule.
Dozens of riot police officers were deployed around government buildings, particularly the parliament and the nearby Pionirski Park, where crowds of Vučić supporters from across the country gathered for a counter-protest, Reuters stated.
The agency added that some protesters, who wanted to confront Vučić’s supporters, threw flares at police officers after the protest ended around 10:00 p.m., and that the police used pepper spray to disperse them.
The protesters chanted “Drop your shields!” calling on the police to halt their intervention, Reuters noted.
Source: Danas
