Tensions soar in Serbia as angry protesters clash with police, set fire to party offices
Wearing scarves over their faces and chanting slogans against President Aleksandar Vucic, a group of young men threw flares at his Serbian Progressive Party offices in Valjevo, some 100 kilometers from the capital Belgrade. They set fire to the party's offices before clashing with riot police in a downtown area.
Police threw multiple rounds of tear gas and charged at the demonstrators who hurled bottles, rocks and flares at them.
Similar clashes also erupted on Saturday evening in the northern city of Novi Sad and in Belgrade, with police directing tear gas at protesters while battling the protesters who set garbage containers on fire.
The protesters in Valjevo turned out to the streets to protest what they allege is police brutality.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said at least one policeman was injured in Valjevo and 18 people detained so far.
'There will be more detentions. All those who have broken the law will be arrested,' Dacic said.
He said that the seat of the Valjevo court, prosecutor's office and the municipal building also have been demolished.
Serbia has been gripped by protests since November, when a train station canopy collapse killed 16 people. Many blamed the tragedy on poor renovation work resulting from widespread corruption in infrastructure projects.
The student-led protests had been largely peaceful for months but turned violent this week. The situation has put pressure on Serbia's increasingly autocratic president Vucic, who has refused the protesters' demand to call an early parliamentary election.
Vucic has accused the protesters of following orders from abroad to 'destroy Serbia,' and promised a crackdown on the nationwide movement led by university students.
The protest in Valjevo drew several thousand people after a video on social media showed a young man from the town being severely beaten by police who kicked him and bashed him with batons during a protest.
The gathering was peaceful until groups of protesters threw flares at the SNS offices which sparked the fire inside.
The incident marks the second such attack on the SNS party offices this week after protesters demolished the party headquarters in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday.
Clashes between the SNS party loyalists and police on one side and anti-government protesters on the other side have erupted every evening since then. Dozens of people have been injured and scores have been detained.
Secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has called for 'calm and respect of the right to peaceful assembly' 'Serbian authorities must uphold Council of Europe standards,' he said on X.
Serbian police have denied reports of brutality, saying they have been attacked and that dozens of officers have been injured in the rioting.
Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms while allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. He has denied this.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Israel prepares to move Palestinians to southern Gaza as Israelis urge mass protest over war
NAHARIYA, Israel (AP) — Israel announced Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory's most populated areas. The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said the supply of tents to the territory would resume on Sunday. The military said it had no comment on when the mass movement of Palestinians would begin, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media that 'we are now in the stage of discussions to finalize the plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza." Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a 'nationwide day of stoppage' in Israel on Sunday to express growing frustration over 22 months of war. Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive. They and other Israelis were horrified by the recent release of videos showing emaciated hostages speaking under duress and pleading for help and food. The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war — a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have made as well in recent weeks. A group representing the families has urged Israelis into the streets on Sunday. 'Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,' it said in a statement. 'I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us,' said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity. She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv, along with Pushpa Joshi, sister of kidnapped Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, a student seized from a kibbutz. 'I miss my best friend,' Pushpa said. An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed a baby girl and her parents on Saturday, Nasser hospital officials and witnesses said. Motasem al-Batta, his wife and the girl were killed in their tent in the crowded Muwasi area. 'Two and a half months, what has she done?" neighbor Fathi Shubeir asked, sweating as temperatures in the shattered territory soared above 32 degrees Celsius. 'They are civilians in an area designated safe.' Israel's military said it couldn't comment on the strike without more details. It said it is dismantling Hamas' military capabilities and takes precautions not to harm civilians. Muwasi is one of the heavily populated areas in Gaza where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel plans to widen the coming military offensive, along with Gaza City and 'central camps' — an apparent reference to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij camps in central Gaza. Israel may be using the threat to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages taken in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war. Elsewhere, an official at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said it received the bodies of six people who were killed in the Zikim area of northern Gaza, as well as four people killed in shelling. Another 11 malnutrition-related deaths occurred in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the territory's Health Ministry said Saturday, with one child among them. That brings malnutrition-related deaths during the war to 251. The UN is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. Palestinians are drinking contaminated water as diseases spread, while some Israeli leaders continue to talk openly about the mass relocation of people from Gaza . A 20-year old Palestinian woman described as being in a 'state of severe physical deterioration' died Friday after being transferred from Gaza to Italy for treatment, the hospital said Saturday. The UN and partners say getting food and other aid into the territory of over 2 million people, and then on to distribution points, remains highly challenging with Israeli restrictions and pressure from crowds of hungry Palestinians. The UN human rights office says at least 1,760 people were killed while seeking aid between May 27 and Wednesday. It says 766 were killed along routes of supply convoys and 994 in the vicinity of 'non-UN militarized sites," a reference to the Israeli-backed and US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which since May has been the primary distributor of aid in Gaza. The US State Department on Saturday said all visitor visas for people from Gaza are being stopped while a review is carried out of how 'a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas' were issued in recent days. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Tensions soar in Serbia as angry protesters clash with police, set fire to party offices
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Angry protesters clashed with police in a town in western Serbia and in the capital Belgrade on Saturday as tensions soared further in the Balkan nation following days of violent demonstrations. Wearing scarves over their faces and chanting slogans against President Aleksandar Vucic, a group of young men threw flares at his Serbian Progressive Party offices in Valjevo, some 100 kilometers from the capital Belgrade. They set fire to the party's offices before clashing with riot police in a downtown area. Police threw multiple rounds of tear gas and charged at the demonstrators who hurled bottles, rocks and flares at them. Similar clashes also erupted on Saturday evening in the northern city of Novi Sad and in Belgrade, with police directing tear gas at protesters while battling the protesters who set garbage containers on fire. The protesters in Valjevo turned out to the streets to protest what they allege is police brutality. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said at least one policeman was injured in Valjevo and 18 people detained so far. 'There will be more detentions. All those who have broken the law will be arrested,' Dacic said. He said that the seat of the Valjevo court, prosecutor's office and the municipal building also have been demolished. Serbia has been gripped by protests since November, when a train station canopy collapse killed 16 people. Many blamed the tragedy on poor renovation work resulting from widespread corruption in infrastructure projects. The student-led protests had been largely peaceful for months but turned violent this week. The situation has put pressure on Serbia's increasingly autocratic president Vucic, who has refused the protesters' demand to call an early parliamentary election. Vucic has accused the protesters of following orders from abroad to 'destroy Serbia,' and promised a crackdown on the nationwide movement led by university students. The protest in Valjevo drew several thousand people after a video on social media showed a young man from the town being severely beaten by police who kicked him and bashed him with batons during a protest. The gathering was peaceful until groups of protesters threw flares at the SNS offices which sparked the fire inside. The incident marks the second such attack on the SNS party offices this week after protesters demolished the party headquarters in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday. Clashes between the SNS party loyalists and police on one side and anti-government protesters on the other side have erupted every evening since then. Dozens of people have been injured and scores have been detained. Secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has called for 'calm and respect of the right to peaceful assembly' 'Serbian authorities must uphold Council of Europe standards,' he said on X. Serbian police have denied reports of brutality, saying they have been attacked and that dozens of officers have been injured in the rioting. Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms while allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. He has denied this.
Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
In letter to Putin, US first lady asks him to consider the children in push to end war in Ukraine
WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump took the unique step of crafting a letter that calls for peace in Ukraine, having her husband President Donald Trump hand-deliver it to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their Friday meeting in Alaska. The letter did not specifically name Ukraine, which Putin's forces invaded in 2022, but beseeched him to think of children and "an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology." Nor did the American first lady discuss the fighting other than to say to Putin that he could "singlehandedly restore" the "melodic laughter" of children who have been caught in the conflict. "In protecting the innocence of these children, you will do more than serve Russia alone — you serve humanity itself," she wrote on White House stationery. A copy of the letter was first obtained by Fox News Digital and later posted on social media by supporters of the US president, including Attorney General Pam Bondi. The first lady said that Putin could help these children with the stroke of a pen. Putin's invasion of Ukraine has resulted in Russia taking Ukrainian children out of their country so that they can be raised as Russian. The Associated Press documented the grabbing of Ukrainian children in 2022, after which the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
