Police said Thursday that about 50 protesters were detained across Serbia and dozens were injured in a surge in violence after more than nine months of largely peaceful demonstrations against the populist regime of President Aleksandar Vucic.
As Interior Minister Ivica Dacic noted at a press conference, the gatherings that followed the unrest on Tuesday evening were organized in about 90 places on Wednesday.
Unrest began Wednesday in the northern city of Novi Sad when supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party began throwing flares at anti-government protesters as they passed the party's offices, according to video from the scene.
Conflicts continued there throughout the evening, with opposing groups exchanging objects amid clouds of smoke and chaos.
At one point, an army security officer at the SNS party office fired a shot into the air, later explaining that he felt his life was in danger.
The incidents were emblematic of the escalating series of protests by Serbian university students over the growing authoritarianism of Mr Vucic's regime in Serbia.
Similar clashes also took place on Tuesday evening.
Serbia's president has been accused of suppressing democratic freedoms and promoting organised crime and corruption, but he denies the charges.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
