BELGRADE, May 23 (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters in central Belgrade on Saturday, as tens of thousands gathered to demand early elections and an end to the more than decade-long rule of Serbia's populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
People crowded into Slavija Square, one of the capital's main junctions, in a fresh eruption of demonstrations that started a year and a half ago when a deadly roof collapse triggered a youth-led movement against alleged corruption and mismanagement.
Officers in riot gear cordoned off Belgrade city hall, about a kilometre away, before sporadic clashes broke out between protesters and police near the presidency building and outside a park where Vucic's supporters have been camping since March last year.
Police fired tear gas and stun grenades as they pushed back protesters farther down the street. Protesters set fire to bins filled with rubbish.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said 23 people were detained, Tanjug news agency reported.
Dacic said some police officers were injured in clashes but gave no details on the severity of the injuries or the number of police officers affected.
Many in the crowds wore badges with red hands reading, "Your hands are bloody," and banners saying, "The students are winning."
Anti-government protests started after an awning collapsed at a railway station in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad on November 1, 2024. Protesters, opposition leaders and rights watchdogs say it was a sign of broader mismanagement.
Vucic and his allies deny accusations of corruption and crackdowns on critics, and say they have taken action to punish those responsible for the roof collapse.
On Saturday, before the clashes broke out, Mirjana Nikolic, rector of Belgrade's University of Arts, told the cheering crowd: "This government is ... afraid of those who are defending their dignity and their rights."
Police estimated the crowd in the square and surrounding streets at 34,300. The Archive of Public Gatherings, a group that monitors public gatherings, put the number at around 100,000.
"I came here to show how many of us there are, how many unhappy citizens there are and that it is a high time to organise election to make things better," Dragan Djuric, a 55-year-old farmer from the town of Sabac, said at the rally.
(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Matthew Lewis)
