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08 July 2020In Belgrade during the night there is guerrilla war between anti-government demonstrators and police around the parliament, the target of the protest, directed primarily against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and the new curfew that will be imposed this week due to the increase in COVID cases -19. The protest was triggered by the change in the COVID-19 pandemic policy. Prior to the June 21 elections, the government had removed virtually all restrictions, claiming that the virus had weakened. Just two weeks later, however, it was announced that the situation had returned to the calamity level. 

After a small group of protesters attempted to enter parliament, clashes followed with police during which both protesters and policemen were allegedly injured. After being rejected with tear gas from the entrance to the chamber, the demonstrators fell back into the streets and surrounding park where, near the church of San Marco, they set fire to three police cars. Several garbage bins were also set on fire.

At the dense throwing of stones, bottles, firecrackers and other objects, riot police officers responded with repeated launches of tear gas, forming cords to defend the area around the parliament. Horseback police also intervened and massive reinforcements of agents are arriving at the scene.

The media reports of attacks by demonstrators against journalists who resumed the clashes. Not far from the parliament are the seat of the presidency, the city hall of Belgrade and the seat of the public television RTS, all places heavily guarded by the police.

Bosko Obradovic, head of the far-right movement 'Dveri' and one of the leaders of the radical opposition, made an appeal overnight to all opponents across the country to reach Belgrade to force the government and president to step aside. "All of Serbia must flow to Belgrade. Now or never," Obradovic wrote on Twitter. "Only a large mass of people can foster change," he added.