New "mobile" blockades in Belgrade

A group of citizens briefly blocked traffic near Republic Square in Belgrade on Tuesday, July 1st.

According to reports from the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty team on the ground in the Serbian capital, Kolarçeva Street was blocked for a moment, while the gathered citizens walked relentlessly through the pedestrian lines.

With the arrival of the police, traffic returned to normal.

Police also intervened near the Faculty of Law, where containers and other obstacles had previously been placed at the intersection between King Alexander Boulevard and Beogradska Street.

Traffic in that area had been disrupted since early Tuesday morning, but then resumed, the REL team reported.

After the police intervention in front of the Faculty of Law, workers of the Public Municipal Enterprise removed the barricades from the street.

In the days following the mass protest held in Slavija on June 28, citizens have begun organizing "mobile" blockades in several points in Belgrade and many other cities in Serbia.

Police intervened on Sunday evening and throughout Monday to disperse these blockades. Some of the police actions were accompanied by arrests, while students participating in the blockade accused the police of excessive use of force against the protesters.

In response, the police stated that they acted "in a highly professional manner."

On the other hand, the students in the blockade have announced that on June 30, in the morning hours, 29 of their colleagues were arrested.

Videos of arrests and the dismantling of barricades have been published on student accounts on social media, accompanied by accusations that "the people are being beaten and their freedom is being denied," and that "the police are hiding their identities and violating their citizens."

Footage of the arrests, showing the use of force by the police, was recorded near the Faculty of Law in central Belgrade and on Vojvode Stepe Street, in the Vozhdovac neighborhood of Belgrade.

In one of these videos, published on social networks, it is seen that police vehicles crash into protesters on Vojvode Stepe Street, while the protesters run away from the road./ REL (A2 Televizion)