BELGRADE – Outraged demonstrators clashed with law enforcement in a town in western Serbia and in the capital, Belgrade, on Saturday, as tensions escalated in the Balkan country after several days of violent protests.
With scarves covering their faces, a group of young men voiced opposition to President Aleksandar Vucic by hurling flares at his Serbian Progressive Party’s offices in Valjevo, approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Belgrade. The protesters ignited the party offices and then engaged in confrontations with riot police in the central area.
Police threw multiple rounds of tear gas and charged at the demonstrators who hurled bottles, rocks and flares at them.
Similar disturbances broke out in Belgrade that evening, with police deploying tear gas against demonstrators who set garbage containers ablaze.
The protesters in Valjevo turned out to the streets to protest what they allege is police brutality.
There were no immediate reports on the numbers of injured people in either Valjevo or Belgrade.
Serbia has been in the throes of protests since November, following the collapse of a train station canopy that resulted in 16 casualties. The incident was widely attributed to shoddy renovation work tied to corruption in infrastructure projects.
Initially led by students and largely peaceful, the protests turned violent this week, adding pressure on the increasingly authoritarian President Vucic, who has declined the protesters’ call for an early parliamentary election.
Vucic has accused the demonstrators of being influenced by foreign agendas to “destroy Serbia” and has vowed to suppress the nationwide movement driven by university students.
The protest in Valjevo drew several thousand people after a video on social media showed a young man from the town being severely beaten by police who kicked him and bashed him with batons during a protest earlier this week.
The gathering was peaceful until groups of protesters threw flares at the SNS offices which sparked the fire inside.
The incident marks the second such attack on the SNS party offices this week after protesters demolished the party headquarters in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday.
Clashes between the SNS party loyalists and police on one side and anti-government protesters on the other side have erupted every evening since then. Dozens of people have been injured and scores have been detained.
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has called for “calm and respect of the right to peaceful assembly”
“Serbian authorities must uphold Council of Europe standards,” he said on X this week.
Serbian police have denied reports of brutality, saying they have been attacked and that dozens of officers have been injured in the rioting.
Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms while allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. He has denied this.
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