Serbian police clash with anti-government protesters

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Serbian police have clashed with anti-government protesters demanding snap elections and an end to President Aleksandar Vučić's 12-year rule.
Police on Saturday deployed scores of officers in riot gear around government buildings, parliament and nearby Pionirski Park, where throngs of Mr Vučić's backers from across the country gathered in a counter-protest.
After the protest ended at about 10pm, some protesters who wanted to confront Mr Vučić's backers threw bottles, rocks and flares at the police, who used force to disperse them in several locations across Belgrade's city centre.
The protesters shouted: "Keep the shields down," calling on the police to stop intervening.
Police detained several dozen protesters, while six police officers were reported injured in clashes, Dragan Vasiljević, the director of police, told a press conference late on Saturday, local time.
Mr Vučić said protesters attempted to topple the state.
"They wanted to topple Serbia, and they have failed," he wrote on his Instagram page.
In a statement, students accused the government of an escalation of tensions.
"They … opted for violence and repression against the people. Every radicalisation of the situation is their responsibility," students wrote on the X social network.
In a statement, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said police would act to maintain public order.
"The police will take all measures to establish public order and peace, … and apply all its powers to repel attacks, and arrest all those who attacked the police," Mr Dačić said.
Months of protests across the country, including university shutdowns, have rattled Mr Vučić, a populist, whose second term ends in 2027, when parliamentary elections are scheduled.
Mr Vučić's opponents accuse him and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms, something they deny.
The protesters, who want the government to heed their demands, have pledged non-violence.
Mr Vučić has previously to hold refused snap elections. His Progressive Party-led coalition holds 156 of 250 parliamentary seats.
Earlier on Saturday, Mr Vučić said unspecified "foreign powers" were behind the protest.
He said police should be restrained but warned that violence would not be tolerated.
"The country will be defended and thugs will face justice," he told reporters in Belgrade.
Sladjana Lojanovic, 37, a farmer from the town of Sid in the north, said she came to support the protesting students.
"The institutions have been usurped and … there is a lot of corruption. Elections are the solution, but I don't think he [Mr Vučić] will want to go peacefully," she told Reuters.
In the days ahead of the protest, police arrested about a dozen anti-government activists, charging them with undermining the constitution and terrorism. All denied the charges.
Protests by students, opposition, teachers, workers and farmers began last December after 16 people died on November 1 in a Novi Sad railway station roof collapse. Protesters blame corruption for the disaster.
The Belgrade rally coincides with St Vitus Day, venerated by most Serbs, which marks the 1389 Battle of Kosovo with Ottoman Turks.
Reuters