(Al Jazeera Media Network) Clashes in Serbia have continued for a second day as opponents and supporters of the Serbian government faced off, each side staging its own demonstrations, following more than nine months of sustained protests against populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
The president’s supporters and antigovernment demonstrators launched flares and other objects at each other in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday evening, requiring the intervention of riot police, according to local media.
Meanwhile, thousands gathered for protests in other parts of the country, mostly outside local headquarters of Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party.
In Belgrade, riot police used tear gas to disperse antigovernment demonstrators in one area.
Elsewhere, riot police separated the opposing groups in the central town of Kraljevo, with protests also taking place in the southern city of Nis and in the central towns of Cacak and Kragujevac.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic called for the “return of law and order”, while Vucic labelled the antigovernment demonstrators “thugs”.
The clashes began on Tuesday night in Vrbas, northwest of the capital Belgrade, where riot police separated the two groups outside the governing Serbian Progressive Party offices in the town.
The student-led protests in Serbia started in November after a train station canopy collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people, triggering furious accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.
Serbia’s president, other government officials and pro-government media have repeatedly described the protesters as “terrorists”, although protests since November have been largely peaceful.
Led by university students, the protesters are demanding that Vucic call an early parliamentary election, which he has refused to do.
Images from the scene showed government supporters throwing flares, rocks and bottles at the protesters, who hurled back various objects. Police said that dozens of people were injured, including 16 police officers.
