Serbian police and hundreds of hooligans, disavowed by the opposition and non-partisan citizens, clashed for two nights of mayhem in Belgrade, leaving in their wake, scores injured and destruction throughout the city over the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and anticipated settlement of the Kosovo issue.
When the dust settled and clouds of tear gas lifted on Wednesday, several clear pictures emerged from the battleground debris. The first being that there are three Serbias in play: the authorities led by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and their well-equipped police; hooligans which have been allowed to flourish since the days of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic who used them as his private paramilitary; and, lastly, the civic, pacifist pro-European values Serbia.
That Serbia showed its true colours on July 9 when, despite the violent scenes of the previous two days, thousands of young people, some with kids in strollers, bravely occupied Belgrades central square in a festive atmosphere. They deployed peaceful sit-down tactics and chased away far-right extremists who, indeed in much smaller numbers, tried several times to reignite fresh riots.
The second picture to emerge is that extremism among the young those who are willing to viciously engage with well-equipped police units that include mounted and K-9 detachments, and special riot-breaking units that are equipped with armoured Humvees is very powerful and could present a serious challenge to stability once a deal is made between Belgrade and Kosovo.
The third is that the fractured mainstream opposition needs to reinvent itself and refocus if it really wants to tap into the dissatisfaction of Serbian citizens, who are angry at the government for its mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main opposition alliance SzS comprises the entire Serbian political spectrum from pro-Europeans to rabid anti-Westerners, the alt-right and pro-Russians, which leaves most of the citizens and all foreign observers too confused as to what that alliance stands for.
They are also too dogmatic. Their position is either, or and that is the other side of the same authoritarian coin fr most citizens. They need to reorganise, get rid of the dead weight, an analyst said.
In fact, on July 8, many of the opposition leaders were struck, booed, and expelled from the demonstration, although it remains unclear whether that was done by the hooligans or by citizens. The following evening, it was obvious that the citizens (and social networks) were calling the shots the opposition leaders were just props and extras, one Western analyst noted.
The toll from the violence has seen 118 policemen injured and 153 people arrested, and police cars were set ablaze according to the director of the police. The material damage is worth millions of euros as riots also erupted in four other towns in Serbia. On July 7 and 10, the police showed remarkable restraint while being pelted with rocks, Molotov cocktails, and flash bombs. When they decided enough was enough, many protesters were brutally beaten in violent scenes which prompted Dunja Mijatovi, the current Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and various other human rights groups, to call for the perpetrators to face justice. Amnesty International blamed the police for applying heavy-handed measures against the demonstrators.
Images of Serbian police firing tear gas and stun grenades indiscriminately into the crowd, and of protesters and bystanders being charged by mounted police and beaten by police in riot gear, raises serious concerns, Amnesty Internationals Balkans researcher Jelena Sesar said in a statement.
Serbia did have one of Europes strictest and efficient lockdowns for months until late June when the measures were eased. A football derby attended by thousands, the first of its kind in Europe after the outbreak, and the reopening of night clubs opened were overt signals that COVID-19 had been vanquished, but there were many warnings from even before the end of the lockdown that it was far from safe to ignore social distancing rules.
Immediately after the June 21 elections, the virus returned with a vengeance and the number of casualties soared to record levels, prompting Vucic to warn of a lockdown measures.
More than 17,300 cases and over 350 deaths have been recorded throughout Serbia. To add salt to the wound, as EU countries eased entry restrictions, the doors were suddenly shut for citizens of Serbia, including in two top tourist destination countries Montenegro and Greece a veritable disaster for the well-travelled Serbs.
Thousands took to the streets asking for a new medical board overseeing the efforts to curtail the pandemic, a technical government which would prepare fresh elections, and access to the media which is chiefly pro-government.
Vucic won by a landslide in the June elections, but the results were marred by the opposition boycott and Covid-19 scare, dismissed the demands and said the government will not yield to violence. He asked citizens not to fight the hooligans and allow the state to do that for them. I promised that we will know how to preserve peace and stability despite criminal hooligan violent attacks that have shocked us all, he said on his way to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a video conference summit on July 10 with Avdullah Hoti, the leader of Kosovo, and Vucic. The meeting came ahead of the resumption of EU-sponsored talks aimed at normalising relations between the two countries.
The extreme far-right could present a huge problem for Vucic. The alt-right want nothing short of Kosovo firmly back in Serbia, preferably without any Albanians, a Western diplomat remarked to New Europe. During the weeks violence, rioters and hooligans chanted anti-Kosovo, anti-EU, and anti-NATO slogans and called for the expulsion of immigrants.
They are flexing their muscles and showing they are not afraid of the police. This is a message to the government that it would do well not to ignore the situation even if it did have some semblance of control over them (the alt-right protestors).
Vucic has accused unnamed foreign intelligence services of being behind the unrest, part of an effort to weaken Serbias position at the Kosovo talks.
The pro-government tabloids accused pro-Russian far-right groups of fueling the violence. This prompted the Russian Ambassador to Serbia and the Russian Foreign Ministry to make an unprecedented and protocol-waiving move to issue statements saying that Moscow categorically rejected any notion that Russia was behind the unrest.
The claim came amidst widespread speculation that the Kremlin is, for its selfish reasons, opposed to any solution to the Kosovo issue at this time. Moscow was accused of being involved in attempted coups in Montenegro and North Macedonia last year, charges it denies.
During the first night of the riots, the only cable TV covering the events, N1, made a surprising discovery. In a surreal scene, their camera caught the police beating three young and fit men sitting on a park bench and drinking beer in the thick of the violence.
The journalist went to interview the three when a flustered young woman, who was not more than 30-years-old, joined then and started speaking to the journalist, who was surprised by her accent and asked if she was Russian., The woman replied that she was and said she was taking part in the demonstration, as she did in her own country against dictatorship.
When sked against which dictator she was referring to, the young woman replied, against Yeltsin, of course! The problem is that she must have been a very advanced toddler at the time to take part in demonstrations that would have occurred more than 25 years ago.
The following day, Vucics cabinet issued a statement that a planned meeting with the Russian Ambassador to Belgrade had been cancelled. No reason was given.
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Police and hooligans clash in Serbia over handling of COVID-19, Kosovo - New Europe