Serbian leader retreats on virus lockdown
Protests of handling of virus there rage on
BELGRADE, Serbia — Police fired tear gas to disperse rock-throwing protesters in Serbia’s capital on Wednesday as violence erupted for the second day in a row during demonstrations against the president’s handling of the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
President Aleksandar Vucic backtracked on his plans to reinstate a coronavirus lockdown in Belgrade this week, but it didn’t stop people from firing flares and throwing stones while trying to storm the downtown parliament building.
A number of people were injured during clashes in front of the parliament that started peacefully but soon turned violent, fueling tensions in the Balkan country, which is battling a surge in virus infection cases.
Police on horses and in armored vehicles intervened in the city center to push back the demonstrators, setting up cordons and blocking the crowd from returning to the square outside the parliament building.
Tear gas was fired in several spots. Some protesters overturned garbage containers and set them on fire while trying to stop the police officers pushing them away.
The scene was reminiscent of the era of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, when clashes often erupted at anti-government protests. Special police units were brought in as clashes continued late into the evening in parts of the city center.
Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said the latest protests amounted to an attempt to “humiliate and destroy the Serbian state.”
“Fascists and bullies want to take power without elections,” Vulin told pro-government TV channel Pink.
The clashes Wednesday came a day after protesters fought running battles with police in the capital and tried to enter the country’s parliament after Vucic announced that a weekend curfew would be reintroduced two months after it was first lifted.
Clashes were also reported in the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad.
Opponents blame the autocratic Vucic for contributing to the spike in deaths and new cases after he lifted the previous lockdown measures. They say he did that to cement his grip on power after Serbia’s June 21 parliamentary election. He has denied those claims.
In other developments:
Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said a shutdown of the nation’s second-largest city is necessary and promised continuing financial support for businesses that fear they won’t survive a second lockdown. The Victoria state government said Melbourne and part of its surrounding area will be locked down for six weeks starting Wednesday night because the rate of coronavirus spread was unsustainable.
Authorities in northeast Spain will fine individuals who do not wear face masks $113 starting Thursday, when the use of masks becomes mandatory in Barcelona and the surrounding Catalonia region following a resurgence of the coronavirus.
More than 100 Bangladeshis who arrived at Rome’s airport Wednesday were refused entry as Italy tightens restrictions on travel from coronavirus hotspots in a bid to prevent new infection clusters in the onetime European epicenter of the outbreak.
Africa now has more than
509,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after South Africa recorded another day of more than 10,000 confirmed cases. The country makes up 43 percent of Africa’s cases.
The coronavirus outbreak has worsened the hunger crisis in the world’s poorest corners and up to 12,000 people could die each day from hunger linked to the social and economic effects of the pandemic, the humanitarian group Oxfam warned Thursday.