BELGRADE (Reuters) -Thousands of students protested in Belgrade on Monday against the use of force by police at a demonstration last week and demanded investigations against officers loyal to populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling party.
The demonstration follows a protest in the northern city of Novi Sad on Friday when police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, saying they were first attacked by a group of masked individuals.
Police this month and last said their internal control department, which is responsible for overseeing professional conduct and standards, was investigating allegations by the protesters.
Vucic and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have been rattled by 10 months of countrywide protests and university blockades that began after 16 people died when a roof at a railway station in Novi Sad collapsed last November.
Demonstrators marched through Belgrade’s city centre and across a main bridge across the River Sava, making stops at the Palace of Justice, where they spilt red paint in front of the court’s building, and a police headquarters.
Students, opposition parties and rights watchdogs accused police of using excessive force in Novi Sad on Friday and during earlier protestswhen dozens were injured and detained.
Nikolina Sindjelic, 22, a student of political science, said those responsible for violence against protesters must be held accountable.
“They are beating us because they are afraid of the truth… No force can break us,” Sindjelic told the cheering crowd.
Students, opposition parties and rights watchdogs have blamed the Novi Sad railway station disaster on corruption and seek early elections in hopes of ousting Vucic and the SNS.
They have also accused Vucic and his allies of ties to organised crime, using violence against political rivals, and suppressing media freedoms, all allegations they deny.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, Fedja Grulovic and Branko Filipovic; Editing by William Maclean)
