Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said on Tuesday that police were not hiding information about their actions during recent protests and pledged accountability if officers were found to have exceeded their authority.
For more than a week, anti-government demonstrators have clashed with police and supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Belgrade and other cities. Protesters, who have rallied for nine months demanding responsibility over the deaths of 16 people in a roof collapse at Novi Sad’s railway station, accuse police of excessive force and brutality.
Student groups have alleged that on Aug. 14, officers led by a special police unit commander detained several demonstrators in the basement garage of the Serbian government building, where they were beaten, forced to kneel, and threatened with execution. One student, Nikolina Sinđelić, said she was slapped and threatened with sexual assault.
Dačić rejected the claims, saying no mistreatment occurred. “What kind of police brutality are we talking about when 137 police officers were injured in four days?” he said. He added that Sinđelić had been arrested for participating in what he described as an “illegal blockade” and for throwing flares at police, but was released hours later.
The University of Belgrade’s rector’s council has asked Serbia’s chief prosecutor to investigate the students’ allegations.
The protests intensified after violent incidents in the northern towns of Vrbas and Bačka Palanka on Aug. 12, when government supporters used fireworks against demonstrators. Police were accused of failing to intervene. Two days later, clashes in Valjevo led to the ransacking of SNS offices and an attack on local court and prosecutor’s buildings.
President Aleksandar Vučić said on Aug. 17 the government would take “surprising decisions” within days in response to the unrest, without providing details.