Supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) threw flares and firecrackers at anti-government protesters in Novi Sad on Wednesday evening, according to Reuters, prompting police to intervene to end the standoff, a major escalation of nine-month-long protests in Serbia.
Daily protests countrywide in Serbia, following the deaths of 16 people, killed when a roof on a renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed last November, have rattled the popularity of populist President Aleksandar Vucic and SNS.
At a news conference late on Wednesday, Vucic, flanked by Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, said 16 police officers and around 60 SNS backers have been injured in Novi Sad. He also accused unidentified foreign powers of orchestrating riots and pledged arrests.
"Persons who violated the law will be apprehended ... Tonight, we have averted a catastrophic scenario planned by someone from abroad," he said.
Reuters could not independently verify Vucic's claims.
Footage by private N1 TV showed flares and firecrackers being thrown at protesters in Novi Sad from the direction of the SNS offices. It also showed anti-government protesters, some with bloody faces, saying Vucic's backers used sticks and truncheons to attack them.
Opposition Move-Change movement said Vucic's loyalists have been responsible for the clashes.
"Attacks on people with pyrotechnic devices violate their right to life and protest," it said in a statement.
In the capital city of Belgrade, police in full riot gear blocked anti-government protesters from approaching the area in a park near the parliament building where Vucic's supporters have been camping since March.
Elsewhere in Belgrade, anti-government protesters clashed with police who prevented them from approaching local SNS offices.
The protesters have blamed corruption for the Novi Sad railway roof collapse and have demanded early elections that they hope would remove Vucic and his party from power after 13 years.
Students, opposition, and anti-corruption watchdogs have accused Vucic and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms, something they deny.
On Wednesday evening, students who are leading the protests called supporters to protest in front of SNS offices in major cities in Serbia, including Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Cacak and Nis, after several protesters were injured in clashes with SNS in the town of Vrbas on Tuesday evening.
Protests continued into another day in Iran, with crowds returning to the streets despite mounting pressure from the authorities. By scale and spread,...
On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar strengthened against major peers, while the euro fell following slower-than-expected inflation in Europe. Market movements...
U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are actively exploring options to acquire Greenland, with discussions including the potential use of the U.S....
Leaders from the U.S. and European countries moved closer to finalising legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine following a “Coalition of th...
Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday, boosted by optimism over artificial intelligence (AI) and a strong rally in Moderna shares, with the Dow Jones I...
Protests continued into another day in Iran, with crowds returning to the streets despite mounting pressure from the authorities. By scale and spread, the unrest has entered its most significant phase so far.
On Tuesday, the U.S. dollar strengthened against major peers, while the euro fell following slower-than-expected inflation in Europe. Market movements were relatively subdued as investors focused on upcoming U.S. economic data.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are actively exploring options to acquire Greenland, with discussions including the potential use of the U.S. military, which is "always an option," according to a statement from the White House on Tuesday.
Leaders from the U.S. and European countries moved closer to finalising legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine following a “Coalition of the Willing” meeting in Paris on Sunday.
Germany’s foreign intelligence service secretly monitored the telephone communications of former U.S. President Barack Obama for several years, including calls made aboard Air Force One, according to an investigation by the German newspaper Die Zeit.
Israeli media report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired a lengthy security meeting that reportedly focused on the country’s regional threats, including Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday (4 January) that the United States could carry out further military action in Venezuela following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said Washington now effectively controls the country.
At the end of last year, U.S. President Donald Trump was reported to have raised the Azerbaijan–Armenia peace agenda during a conversation with Israel’s prime minister, warning that if peace were not achieved, Washington could raise tariffs on both countries by 100 percent.
President Ilham Aliyev said 2025 has politically closed the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, as a Trump-era reset in U.S. ties, new transport corridors and a push into AI, renewables and defence production reshape Azerbaijan’s priorities.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his team are actively exploring options to acquire Greenland, with discussions including the potential use of the U.S. military, which is "always an option," according to a statement from the White House on Tuesday.
Leaders from the U.S. and European countries moved closer to finalising legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine following a “Coalition of the Willing” meeting in Paris on Sunday.
At least four people were killed and several others injured on Tuesday during fighting in Aleppo, northern Syria, state media reported. The government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are trading blame for the violence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a declaration of intent on Tuesday outlining the future deployment of multinational forces in Ukraine.
The United States has presented Israel and Syria with a proposal for a security agreement that would establish a joint economic zone along the border, Axios reported on Tuesday.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment