Tensions erupted into clashes on Tuesday evening after students, professors and their supporters gathered in front of the University of Belgrade Rectorate after a police raid earlier in the day.
Officers from the Anti-Corruption Department of the Criminal Police Directorate raided the Rectorate on Tuesday at around 11 a.m., as part of a probe into a student’s unexplained death. The 25-year-old woman died after falling through a fifth-floor window at the Faculty of Philosophy on the night of March 26.
Protesters gathered almost immediately after police entered the building. Clashes followed when the police pushed people off the streets, drawing batons and hitting some people. Protesters threw soil at the police from flower planters and on several occasions attempted to break through the cordon.
Protesters alleged the raid was another attempt to put pressure on the university, following political tensions after more than a year of student-led anti-government protests – as well as repeated declarations by the government that it will remove universities’ legal autonomy.
Government officials have also alleged that senior university staff’s negligence was to blame for the student’s death.
Rector Vladan Djokic addressed the protesters at around 10 p.m. from the balcony of the rectorate building. He said the university fully respected the rule of law and supported “any lawful investigation” into the student’s death. “But what happened today has nothing to do with an investigation. It had to do with intimidation.
“I repeat the call: we demand an independent investigation into the circumstances of our student’s death, internationally supervised if necessary,” Djokic said.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday evening said it will prosecute all those who attacked the police. “Actions and measures will be taken to initiate criminal prosecution against all those who are found to have carried out attacks on members of the Interior Ministry,” it said in a press release.
Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic told a press conference on Tuesday, while the protest was taking place in front of the rectorate, that the search was still ongoing and multiple items had been found, which would be forwarded to the prosecutor’s office.
“The police found a large number of powerful pyrotechnics, firecrackers, spraycans, a large number of walkie-talkies, gas masks, numerous banners, a large quantity of medical supplies, needles and cannulas, as well as several packages containing various liquids,” he said.