BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Clashes erupted between Serbian anti-government protesters and supporters for a second day Wednesday in a major escalation after more than nine months of persistent demonstrations against autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.
The president's supporters repeatedly hurled flares at protesters in the northern city of Novi Sad, near the offices of Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Protesters then smashed office windows as riot police were deployed outside to guard the building.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said at least one policeman was injured and called for the “return of law and order.”
Thousands more gathered in other parts of the country, including the capital, Belgrade, where riot police used tear gas to disperse groups of anti-government demonstrators in one part of the city.
Riot police separated two opposing camps in the central town of Kraljevo. Demonstrations were also held in the central towns of Kragujevac and Cacak, and the southern city of Nis. There was no immediate word on whether there were injured protesters on Wednesday.
The student-led protests in Serbia first started in November after a train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people and triggering accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.
Protests have since drawn hundreds of thousands of people, shaking Vucic’s firm grip on power. His supporters have recently started organizing counterdemonstrations, fueling fears of violence.
Pro-government media said that Vucic arrived on Wednesday evening to a camp of his supporters outside the presidency building in downtown Belgrade, in an apparent show of defiance. He described the anti-government protesters as “thugs.”
Wednesday's protests were organized in response to incidents on Tuesday evening in the northwestern town of Vrbas, where riot police separated protesters from the opposing camps outside the ruling party's offices.
Images from the scene in Vrbas showed government supporters throwing flares, rocks and bottles at the protesters, who hurled back various objects. Police said that dozens of people were injured, including 16 police officers. Similar incidents were reported at protests in other parts of the country on Tuesday evening.
Police said that several people were detained after the clashes in Vrbas. Police Commissioner Dragan Vasiljevic told state-run RTS television that the protesters “came to attack” the governing party supporters outside the party's offices.
Vucic said at a news conference earlier on Wednesday with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker that pro-democracy protests in Serbia have been “very violent and were violent last night."
Serbia's president, other government officials and pro-government media have repeatedly described the protesters as “terrorists,” though protests in Serbia since November have been largely peaceful.
Protesters have said that government supporters attacked them first in Vrbas and also further south in Backa Palanka and later in Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis. In Belgrade, riot police pushed away protesters who gathered in a downtown area.
Led by university students, the protesters are demanding that Vucic call an early parliamentary election, which he has refused to do. Protesting students have also called for the ouster of Dacic, the interior minister, over recent violence at demonstrations.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. He has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms since coming to power 13 years ago.
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