(7 Jul 2020) Belgrade police on horseback on Tuesday night pushed back groups of protesters opposing the reintroduction of a lockdown announced by Serbia's president earlier in the day.
The announcement comes as the Balkan country reported its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 on Tuesday.
Police fired tear gas at thousands of people, some chanting “Resignation! Resignation!", gathered in front of the downtown parliament building in the Serbian capital.
Protesters threw flares and fireworks, illuminating the night's sky.
Some managed to enter the building by force, but were pushed back by riot police.
Earlier, President Aleksandar Vucic called the virus situation in the Serbian capital of Belgrade “alarming” and “critical” as the city's hospitals neared their capacity limits.
Vucic said the government would reimpose a curfew as of Friday. He said it will "probably" last from 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday till 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Monday.
He also said the groups of no more than five people will be allowed together.
The country’s Health Ministry said Tuesday that 13 people had died in 24 hours in Serbia and 299 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed.
That brought the total to 16,719 confirmed cases and 330 virus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic in Serbia, which went from having one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns to a near-complete reopening at the beginning of May.
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