Thousands throw bottles and flares as tensions soar after huge rally to mark anniversary of train station disaster
Hundreds of riot police separated opponents and loyalists of Serbia’s autocratic president, Aleksandar Vučić, in central Belgrade on Sunday as political tensions boiled after a year of anti-government protests.
Several thousand people faced off on both sides of the police cordons, with officers in riot gear standing in rows between shouting crowds who threw bottles and flares at each other.
Tensions in Belgrade soared a day after tens of thousands of people joined a huge rally in the northern city of Novi Sad which marked the first anniversary of a train station disaster there that killed 16 people and triggered a youth-led movement demanding political changes, challenging Vučić’s firm grip on power.
Anti-government protesters in Belgrade gathered in support of Dijana Hrka, the mother of Stefan Hrka, one of the victims in the station tragedy. Hrka earlier on Sunday said she was launching a hunger strike near a tent camp outside the parliament building that has been occupied by Vučić’s loyalists since March.
