A group of protesters in the Serbian town of Valjevo broke windows and set fire to the office of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SPP) last night, Serbian national broadcaster RTS reported. Incidents were registered in several cities where protests were held yesterday evening, BTA reported.
Last night, another round of anti-government protests took place in several cities in Serbia, with the most damage recorded in Valjevo, western Serbia, where the protest was organized by students from the city's high schools. This time, the reason for the protest, according to the organizers, was "excessive violence" by police at a protest on Thursday.
Some of the protesters wore masks and attacked the SPP office in the city. They threw fireworks at the building to break windows and set the space on fire. The fire was extinguished by firefighters.
Masked protesters with wooden batons and fireworks also attacked the municipality and prosecutor's office in Valjevo, destroying the entrance to the municipality.
Police used tear gas and tried to push the protesters out of the attacked buildings, while they threw fireworks and objects at the police.
Citizens from Belgrade, Lazarevci, Novi Sad, Loznica, Šabac and other cities joined the protest in Valjevo.
Protests were also organized in Kraljevo, Novi Sad, Čačak and Belgrade. In Belgrade, protesters gathered in the Novi Beograd district in front of the SPP building, with police using tear gas to push them back. In the Zemun district, protesters threw paint and smashed windows at the office of the Serbian Radical Party, an SPP supporter.
In Novi Sad, protesters threw stones at the offices of the Movement of Socialists and the Serbian Radical Party.
Following the tragedy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad last year, when 16 people died in an accident at a train station, a wave of social discontent swept the country. Students blocked more than 60 faculties in the country and led spontaneous protests that had already erupted, accusing the government and President Aleksandar Vucic of corruption and nepotism.
The protests in recent days have led to clashes between protesters and police, and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested.