Protesters threw flares and red paint Tuesday on the City Hall building in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in rage over last week’s collapse of a concrete canopy at the railway station that killed 14 people.
Police responded by firing tear gas canisters.
The protesters surrounded the building in central Novi Sad, breaking windows and throwing stones and other objects despite calls by organizers to remain calm. Special police troops were deployed inside the building.
Some of the angry protesters wearing masks, believed to be soccer hooligans who are close to the populist government, tried to get inside the building and hand over their demands that those responsible for the canopy collapse face justice.
Protest organizers said they wanted to enter the Hall and submit their demands.
Miran Pogacar, an opposition activist, said “one glass window can be mended but we cannot bring back 14 lives.
Bojan Pajtic, an opposition politician, said he believed the violent incidents were stoked deliberately by provocateurs, a tactic used before in Serbia to derail peaceful anti-government protests and paint the opposition protesters as enemies of the nation.
Thousands first marched through the city streets demanding that top officials step down because of the fatal outer roof collapse last Friday, including President Vucic and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic.
The protesters first gathered outside the railway station where they held a moment of silence for the victims as organizers read their names. The crowd responded by chanting: “arrest the gang” and “thieves.”
