Nearly 50 protesters have been detained across Serbia and dozens of people were injured as violence erupted this week between opponents and supports of the government following more than nine months of largely peaceful demonstrations against the populist rule of President Aleksandar Vucic, police said on Thursday. Unrest on Wednesday broke out in the northern city of Novi Sad when supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party threw flares at anti-government protesters who had been marching past the party offices, according to video from the scene. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said there were gatherings at some 90 locations in the country on Wednesday evening. At the clashes in Novi Sad, rival groups hurled rock and bottles at each other amid clouds of smoke and chaos. An army security officer at the SNS party offices at one point fired his gun in the air, saying later he felt his life had been in danger. The incidents marked an escalation in protests led by university students that have rattled Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule in Serbia, a candidate nation for European Union membership. The EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said on X that reports of violence are “deeply concerning.” “Advancing on the EU path requires citizens can express their views freely and journalists can report without intimidation or attacks,” Kos added.

Full report : Dozens injured and detained as violence spirals at anti-government protests in Serbia.