The second evening of anti-government protests in Serbia was marked by road blockades across the country. In Belgrade, people began erecting barricades and setting up tent camps, Serbian media reports.
According to Associated Press, several thousand people participated in the protest in Belgrade on the night of June 30.
The protest is being conducted by the student protest group «Blockade». Hundreds of thousands of people are subscribed to it on social media. It published a map of Belgrade, highlighting the points where it called people to come and block the streets, noting that the street blockades should continue until «the effect is achieved». «If the police come — step back without conflict. When they leave — block again. We are more», — the group urged on social media.
According to the organizers, the action will continue until the authorities meet the demands. Among them is the immediate release of previously detained protesters and the holding of early parliamentary elections. The largest protest in recent weeks took place in Belgrade this Saturday, with police detaining several dozen people. According to the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, a total of 77 people were detained, 38 arrested. Seventy citizens were injured, including 48 police officers.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called the participants in the clashes with the police «terrorists» and criticized the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, who is participating in the rallies.
Protests in Serbia began in December last year after the collapse of a concrete canopy in a recently renovated building of the central station in Novi Sad. Sixteen people died. Protesters called on the authorities not to let the guilty go unpunished, citing corruption as the main cause of the tragedy. Demonstrators demanded the resignation of the mayor of Novi Sad and the country's Prime Minister Miloš Vučević. At the end of January, Vučević resigned, as did the mayor of Novi Sad earlier.
Protesters put forward new demands — the resignation of the government and re-elections. President Vučić refused to fulfill them and stated that he was not concerned about the protests, blaming everything on external destructive forces.
Photo: AP, Serbia News