A group of protesters clashed with police at an anti-government protest organized last night in Belgrade, Serbian national television RTS reported. Protests were also held last night in several other Serbian cities, BTA reported.
After the tragedy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad last year, when an incident at the train station killed 16 people, a wave of social discontent swept the entire country. Students blocked over 60 faculties in the country and led the already spontaneous protests, accusing the government and the president of corruption and nepotism.
In Belgrade, protesters gathered at several central points and in the districts of Novi Beograd and Zemun. Protesters in the neighborhoods tried to join the protest in the center, but the police did not allow them.
Late in the evening, clashes broke out between protesters and police at the central intersection of "Nemanina" and "Knez Milos" streets. Protesters used fireworks and other pyrotechnics, and police used tear gas to move the crowd away from the intersection.
The Serbian Emergency Service reported that they responded to a dozen calls about injuries during the protest in Belgrade, writes the Serbian editorial office of the regional television channel En 1.
Today, the students, organizers of the protest, urged protesters on their Instagram account not to go to protests without "basic equipment: glasses and something to cover your mouth with in case of tear gas".
A protest was also organized in Novi Sad, and the citizens were joined by Belgrade bikers in solidarity with a motorbike driver who, according to them, was beaten up at a protest in Belgrade on August 13. Cyclists also joined the protest.
The protest was mostly peaceful. The newspaper "Informer" reported, however, that its reporter and cameraman were attacked during the protest. The chairman of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SPP), Miloš Vučević, called for an urgent response from the responsible state authorities.
Protests were also held last night in Čačak, Valjevo, Kraljevo, Kruševac, Šapac and Leskovac.
Following the protests in recent days, the Serbian Ministry of Interior launched an operation to arrest protesters for violence against the police. Late last night, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that six police officers were injured and 38 people were arrested in last night's protests. This brings the total number of injured police officers to 127 and the number of arrested citizens to 182.