Clashes erupted across Serbia on Thursday night as protesters targeted offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), prompting a heavy police response.
In Novi Sad, demonstrators vandalised the party’s central offices before marching to its local branch in Kosovska Street, where police fired tear gas. Video showed masked men in the crowd throwing firecrackers at police lines, while others wielded sticks and metal bars.
Witnesses reported intense scuffles near the Riblja Pijaca market as riot police and plainclothes men in body armour moved in. Several vehicles were damaged, and local media said at least one police officer was injured.
Protests also flared in Belgrade, where police used tear gas to disperse crowds near government buildings after fireworks were fired at demonstrators. Activists accuse ruling party supporters of attacking protesters in recent days, a charge the SNS has not addressed publicly.
The demonstrations, staged under the slogan “Tonight You’re Tearing at the Seams”, have spread to more than 30 cities, fuelled by anger over alleged political violence and police brutality.