Police intervened against demonstrators in Belgrade after an incident with hooligans, Vučič talks about foreign interference.
Thousands protest in Belgrade
Thousands of anti -government demonstrators in Serbia again protested against the government of President Aleksandar Vučič. In Belgrade against demonstrators, the police intervened with batons and Vučič reiterated his promise of a planned extensive intervention against the protesters. TASR writes about this, according to AP report.
The demonstration in the Serbian capital was calm until a group of young people, probably football hooligans, did not separate from the crowd and did not start throwing stones at the office of the ruling Serbian progressive party (CIS) in the city center.
Police intervention
Shortly afterwards, police units came to the demonstration in armored vehicles, spread the crowd and the protesters escaped.
After this incident, Vučič appeared in the damaged office of his CIS, described the demonstrators as terrorists and said that “citizens will soon be liberated from this terror and evil”.
The President blames the West
On Sunday, the Serbian leader announced harsh measures against anti -government demonstrators in response to several days lasting riots throughout Serbia. However, the AP recalls that it did not specify any measures of the government. He also reiterated on Monday that demonstrations against his government are organized by the West and their aim is to destroy Serbia, although he never provided any evidence.
“Our country is in serious danger, threatened all our values, normal life, every individual,” Vučič said.
Escalation of civil protests
Since last week, the riots in Serbia have been a serious escalation of more than nine months of peaceful civil protests, which stood mainly by university students. The trigger of the protests was the collapse of the concrete shelter at the railway station in Novi Sad of November 1, 2024, which claimed 16 victims of lives, including several students. Independent experts and opposition politicians attribute incident to negligence and corruption under the current government.
In recent days, dozens of people have been detained and injured during the protests, and the Serbian police have faced allegations of excessive use of the force and arbitrary detention of demonstrators, AP adds.
