Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said late-night clashes in several cities left 75 police officers injured, nine of them seriously, and led to the detention of three foreign nationals.
Dačić, who is also deputy prime minister, said demonstrators launched “brutal and unprovoked attacks” on police, hurling bricks, bottles filled with frozen water, fireworks and sticks, and attempting to break through cordons. He said more than 2,000 officers were deployed nationwide to maintain order.
“In three nights of unrest, 121 officers have been injured, 27 the previous night and 19 the night before that,” Dačić told reporters. “These were not peaceful gatherings, but organized attacks on police who represent the state.”
According to Dačić, 114 people were detained overnight. Prosecutors have filed 34 criminal and 28 misdemeanor charges, along with 11 traffic safety violations.
He said three foreign nationals were among those detained – a Croatian man accused of assaulting a gendarmerie officer in Belgrade, a Slovenian citizen of Serbian origin who had studied intelligence in the United States, and an Italian Microsoft employee residing in Serbia.
Dačić rejected opposition media claims of police brutality, insisting that officers only responded after being attacked. “There is no police brutality when 75 officers are injured,” he said.
The minister called for calm, saying police would act strictly within the law.