President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday evening that tougher restrictions will be imposed in the country this weekend, including a shutdown of the capital, Belgrade, in an attempt to curb the growing spread of viruses.

In protest, several thousand people gathered at Parliament and a group managed to get past the police on site and into the building, but they were quickly removed from there.

Police cars were set on fire

Police must have fired tear gas at protesters, who responded by throwing stones, bottles and eggs at police, AP reports. Several police cars should also have been set on fire.

Serbia, a country with just over seven million inhabitants, has reported just over 16,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 330 deaths. But the numbers are pointing upwards and doctors are warning that hospitals are close to the limit of what they can do.

The president's adviser was infected

In early March, severe restrictions were imposed in Serbia to stop the spread of viruses. But at the end of May, restrictions were eased and general elections were held on June 21. Several peaks in Vucic's ruling conservative party SNS, including the president's advisers, were infected after the election as they had celebrated the victory without regard for social distance.

Several opposition parties, many boycotting the election, criticize Vucic for using the shutdown to strengthen what they call his autocratic rule.

The increased spread of infection in the country has forced neighboring Greece to close its borders to all Serbian citizens until July 15.