Serbia's police intervene to end standoff between ruling party supporters and anti-government protesters
BELGRADE - Supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) threw flares and fire crackers at anti-government protesters in Novi Sad on Wednesday evening prompting police to intervene to end the standoff.
Months of protests across Serbia following death of 16 people killed when a roof on a renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed, have rattled President Aleksandar Vucic and his SNS party.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said one policeman was injured in Novi Sad. N1 TV footage showed flares and fire crackers being thrown at protesters from the direction of the SNS offices.
Later near the parliament building in Belgrade, the police in riot gear blocked anti-government protesters approaching the area where Vucic's supporters have been camping since March.
On his Instagram account, Vucic, a former ultranationalist who converted to the cause of European Union membership in 2008, published a video showing him sitting with supporters in front of the parliament.
"I came here to be with people," he said.
Earlier he addressed his supporters in Belgrade a few blocks away and said: "Our response (to protesters) is clear - we are not going to let you destroy Serbia."
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Also in Belgrade, near SNS city headquarters, protesters clashed with police who prevented them from approaching the 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.
They have accused Vucic and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms. Vucic has denied the accusations.
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. REUTERS
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