Serbian police on Tuesday night fired tear gas as thousands of protesters flooded into Belgrade, angry at the return of a weekend COVID-19 curfew.
The crowds protested in the city center over the government’s handling of the crisis, as infections spike after Serbia shed its initial lockdown measures two months ago.
Scuffles broke out between police and a group of protesters who stormed into the National Assembly Building, and police unleashed tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd.
Photo: AFP
The demonstrators, who also lit flares and were seen throwing stones at police on local TV, chanted for Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to resign.
Vucic announced the return of a round-the-clock weekend curfew earlier in the evening after the Balkan state recorded its deadliest day yet, with 13 fatalities.
Critics accuse the president of racing to lift restrictions ahead of a national election on June 21, which his party won resoundingly.
In the weeks before the poll, there were virtually no anti-virus restrictions and sporting events were held with thousands of spectators.
The new curfew is to run from tomorrow to Monday, Vucic said, adding that a government crisis team would decide whether it applied nationwide or only to Belgrade.
In the past two weeks, daily infections have shot up and regularly surpass 300.
“Nobody can endure these numbers. We don’t want to kill our doctors,” the president said.
Speaking after the protests, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic condemned “the violent attack on the parliament building, in a moment when our country and health system are facing the strongest blow from the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic,” public broadcaster RTS reported.
Last week, the government imposed some new restrictions in several hotspot cities and towns, including Belgrade, where wearing masks in indoor spaces was made obligatory.
Several hospitals in the capital were also redesignated virus treatment hubs and a field hospital has been reopened in a sports arena.
According to media reports, the situation was particularly serious in the southwestern city of Novi Pazar, where hospitals have reported an overflow of patients and a lack of equipment.
A total of 330 deaths and more than 16,700 infections have been reported since the virus was first detected in Serbia on March 6.
The local Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has accused the government of suppressing the true tally of infections and deaths — claims denied by the government.
Countries across the Balkans are seeing an increase in cases after initial success in reining in their coronavirus outbreaks.
On Monday, Kosovo reinstated nightly curfews in the capital Pristina and three other towns.
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