On Wednesday evening, in a wave of new anti-government protests, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused the protesters of violence, adding that the country has no intention of engaging the army and that there will be no civil war.
Vučić addressed the public shortly before midnight after protests were organized in several cities across Serbia – in Novi Sad, Belgrade and Niš – due to violence against citizens at protest gatherings the day before in Vrbas and Bačka Palanka.
According to Vučić, more than 60 citizens were injured in the incidents in Novi Sad on Wednesday evening. He added that 16 police officers were injured, including two with serious jaw and chest injuries.
The Serbian president said that “control is being established” and that a larger number of police officers will be on the streets, reports Hina.
“Tonight is a difficult evening for the citizens of Serbia. It is important that, thanks to the wisdom and patience of a huge number of citizens, we have miraculously managed to preserve peace for the time being,” said Vučić.
He dramatically stated that in Novi Sad, “until a few minutes ago, it was a question of whether about 300 citizens who were guarding their houses would survive,” alluding to SNS supporters gathered in front of the party’s Novi Sad headquarters who, as he said, “opposed the beaters and blockaders.”
The citizens who protested against Vučić and the ruling SNS claim the opposite – that they were attacked by SNS supporters, among whom, as they said, were people with “suspicious pasts” hired to cause incidents and provoke police intervention.
The protesters claim that they were brought to the streets by the policies of the ruling party and Serbian President Vučić, who persistently refuse to establish the rule of law, regulate institutions, conduct an investigation, and bring to justice all those responsible for the collapse of a canopy at the Novi Sad railway station on November 1 last year, when 16 people died.
After the Novi Sad tragedy in November last year, a wave of protests followed, in which a student movement was born that seeks an orderly society with the rule of law and the suppression of corruption, the work of institutions without political pressure and influence.
The last in a series of demands is the calling of extraordinary elections, which the government refuses to do so far.
Protests in several cities in Serbia continued after midnight, Belgrade media reported.
