Serbs protest reintroduction of lockdown measures

Thousands of people protested the Serbian president's announcement that a lockdown will be reintroduced after the Balkan country reported its highest single-day death toll from the coronavirus Tuesday.

A small fire could be seen raging in the crowd at one point.

Police fired tear gas at thousands of people, some chanting “Resignation! Resignation!" gathered in front of the downtown parliament building in Belgrade. 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. on Friday till 5 a.m. 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.