Anti-government protests in Serbia escalated on Friday night amid reports of police brutality and excessive use of force. It was the fourth day of unrest in cities across the Balkan country, including in the capital, Belgrade, where police fired teargas at demonstrators and tried to separate rival groups of protesters.
Dozens of people have been injured in the violent clashes, while hundreds have been detained over the past week, as nine months of largely peaceful anti-corruption and pro-democracy protests have reached boiling point.
On Friday night, Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, said the state was stronger than any protest and praised the police for their conduct during the latest demonstrations. “This is the phase of despair and helplessness, when you have nothing more to offer the citizens except beatings, clubs, and all the rest,” he told the national TV broadcaster RTS.
Serbia’s interior minister, Ivica Dačić, denied that police had used excessive force, instead blaming demonstrators for allegedly attacking the officers.
Videos on social media showed police with shields and batons beating up protesters as flares lit up the streets. The rallies on Friday were held under the slogan: “Let’s show them we are not a punching bag.” Demonstrators reportedly threw rocks and eggs at police, who then charged at them in the wide boulevard in front of the Serbian government headquarters.
The clashes were between riot police, anti-government protesters, and Vučić loyalists. The pro-government demonstrators have been accused of hurling fireworks, rocks and glass bottles at anti-government protesters.
In the northern city of Novi Sad on Thursday night, anti-government protesters attacked the headquarters of the ruling Serbian Progressive party, or SNS, chanting “he is finished” as they smashed windows and covered walls with red paint.
The student-led protests began in November last year after the collapse of part of the outdoor roof at Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people. Many blamed the tragedy on entrenched corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects.
Vigils for the victims swiftly escalated into mass demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of Serbians demanding an investigation into the tragedy, as well as early elections.
The protests have rocked the Serbian government, causing Miloš Vučević, the prime minister at the time of the Novi Sad disaster, to resign and the end of his cabinet. Yet Vučić remains in power, despite accusations that he has stifled democratic freedoms while allowing corruption to flourish.
Alain Berset, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, wrote on X on Friday that he was “concerned” by the violent protests in Serbia. “I call for calm and respect of the right to peaceful assembly. Serbian authorities must uphold Council of Europe standards. The rule of law and respect for human rights must prevail.”
