• Serbia: Dozens injured in violent riots against coronavirus restrictions in Belgrade

Belgrade lived this Wednesday for the second consecutive day a night of riots when thousands of people took to the streets of the city to express their discomfort with the management of the coronavirus pandemic by the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vucic , and the executive of the conservative party populist SNS.

Police, who came out with hundreds of riot gear and also armored cars to the center of Belgrade, used large amounts of tear gas to disperse the protesters. According to the local press, the protesters included liberal opponents, youth, families, but also right-wing extremists.

Several injured in clashes with police

The most radicalized threw stones, burning flares and other devices at the agents, according to an EFE-EPA photojournalist at the scene.

Groups of protesters broke the metal barricades and threw flares at the gates of the Parliament, located in the city center.

According to the regional news channel N1 , several people were injured in different clashes between the police and the protesters. The riot police were deployed in various areas of the city center - closed to traffic - where they formed various security cords, accompanied by armored cars and other police vehicles.

Serbian Government condemns violence

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic called the incidents tonight " pure violence and the attempt to take power without the will of the people with violence and destruction."

He thus made reference to the accusations launched on Wednesday afternoon by Vucic that the extra-parliamentary opposition wants to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to dispute power with the Government.

According to the minister, ten officers suffered injuries , one of them seriously after suffering fractures in both legs. At the same time, images circulated on social networks on the Internet in which a man is brutally beaten by several agents and then left lying on the street.

PROTESTS IN OTHER CITIES

Meanwhile, in the city ​​of Novi Sad , in northern Serbia, protesters smashed windows and launched incendiary devices at the Town Hall, at the headquarters of the regional public television station RTV and at the headquarters of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), of the Serbian President Vucic.

The protesters overturned garbage cans and threw artifacts at the police, and direct clashes between protesters' agents occurred on some occasions, N1 reported.

Also in Nis , a city in southern Serbia, several thousand people protested in front of the SNS headquarters, which was attacked with different devices and firecrackers.

Controversial curfew

The protests on Wednesday came a day after a violent demonstration in Belgrade in reaction to the president's announcement of a general curfew for this weekend .

In a statement to the subsequent press, Vucic appeared to backtrack on the idea of ​​a curfew this weekend, saying the government has yet to consider introducing it.

Today's protests began shortly after the president blamed "right-wingers, criminals and opponents" for Tuesday's clashes, which left 60 wounded, 43 of them police.

Increased infections

Infections with the new coronavirus are on the rise in Serbia in recent weeks.

Authorities decided in June to lift the restrictions imposed in March and to keep the virus under control. According to critics, these reliefs were made ahead of the parliamentary elections of June 21, clearly won by the Vucic SNS.

Serbia has so far registered more than 17,000 infections and more than 341 deaths , with a strong upward trend, while hospitals in the Balkan country are increasingly overwhelmed with COVID-19 sufferers.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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