Tear gas filled the air and stun grenades echoed around the campus as the University of Novi Sad in northern Serbia descended into chaos on Friday night after police charged at citizens who had been peacefully protesting in front of the Faculty of Philosophy.

"First, a unit of riot police burst out of the park, from the dark, rushed into the crowd and started hitting people with batons," Norbert Sinkovic, a teaching assistant at the faculty, told DW.

Numerous videos from Friday night that were posted on social media and broadcast by media outlets show police charging and beating anyone in their path: students, first-aid volunteers, women and even an elderly man with a cane.

Clearing the streets

Armored vehicles with police officers patrolled the campus and the wider city center, occasionally driving towards groups of citizens to disperse them.

"The police were pushing citizens back, literally clearing and conquering [the main boulevards] street by street," said local resident Tamara Srijemac. "Novi Sad looked like an occupied city that night."

Stun grenades and tear gas were fired in all directions, making it hard for people to breathe and irritating their eyes and skin.

Treated like terrorists

Demonstrators were chased through the streets, many seeking refuge in the University Rectorate.

Police, with the support of the gendarmerie, stormed the building, keeping a group that was mostly made up of students and professors locked inside an amphitheater for several hours and searching them repeatedly.

"The whole operation was carried out as if we were terrorists," student named Iva Galicki told DW.

"They yelled at us, asking 'Where are your headquarters? Where do you forge your plans?'" she said, adding "I kept wondering if it was possible that some of them truly believed we were terrorists, because of the look on their faces, the way they spoke through gritted teeth, demanding that we show them our secret room where we were supposedly plotting to overthrow the state. It was really absurd at that moment."

A 'professionally executed job?'

That same evening, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic congratulated the police on a "professionally executed job" and called the demonstrators "cowards and wretches," accusing them of having attacked the police first.

"It is our duty, when the institutions of the Republic of Serbia are threatened, to intervene, because we will not allow the institutions of Serbia to be destroyed, demolished,"he said. "The state of Serbia is stronger than anyone. It was like that today, it will be like that tomorrow, it will always be like that." 

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told state-run RTS television on Saturday that 13 police officers had been injured in a "massive and brutal attack" during which, he said, protesters had thrown stones and flares.

Did the police use excessive force?

"We have already seen excessive use of force by the police in some previous situations and protests, but this was an unnecessary use of force against peaceful demonstrators," Predrag Petrovic, research director of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told DW.

Petrovic said that the police should have acted only against those directly involved in violent incidents and not indiscriminately against all demonstrators, most of whom were peaceful and nonviolent.

"This was a retaliatory assault against people who oppose the regime, a demonstration of overwhelming force, the primary goal of which was to massively intimidate those willing to protest against the current regime," he added.

For Petrovic, this is a sign that the regime is shifting toward open repression that goes completely beyond the law and cannot be stopped by any institution.

"Since coming to power, the ruling party has sought to establish as deep and as wide control as possible over all security institutions — by that I also mean the judiciary and those who should be overseeing the security apparatus — and they have largely succeeded in that," Petrovic said.

Resistance within the system is not tolerated

Signs that some are still resisting became evident when Spasoje Vulevic, the commander of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) of the Serbian Interior Ministry, went public on Sunday, saying that he had been removed from his post and was retiring at his own request.

"(Minister of Police) Dacic and (Police Director) Vasiljevic called me and said they could no longer count on me because, as they put it, the president (Aleksandar Vucic) does not want to have an armed formation that is not under his absolute control, and that is why I can no longer be the commander," Vulevic told the Beta news agency.

Predrag Petrovic pointed out that this was not an isolated case. He said that other commanders of important units had also been dismissed over the past year for failing to show complete loyalty.

"The president would like the police and all other state institutions to act as his loyalists, to completely ignore the law, and instead act according to his will, his wishes," he said.

He believed that this dismissal also indicated that a purge was underway and suspected that the authorities were preparing for a much more serious violent confrontation with critics of the regime.

"The SAJ is not a large unit, but it is highly elite and trained for resolving hostage crises and fighting terrorists. So, it is reasonable to assume that the current government is preparing for such an action because they have long been labeling people who protest against the regime as extremists, and in the last month or two they have started calling them terrorists — and we all know what happens to terrorists," Petrovic added.

Students refuse to give up

Several DW sources claim that many within the police are refusing to obey orders, going on sick leave or vacation. Some are even leaving the force entirely.

Nevertheless, Petrovic doubts that there is enough opposition within the police to stop the repression. He believes that it is only citizens that can make a difference in this respect.

"Massive revolt and peaceful resistance by citizens, happening simultaneously in several locations — because there are simply not enough police officers to handle such a scenario — would make open repression extremely, extremely difficult," Petrovic said.

Students say they have no choice but to continue their protests.

"The citizens are aware of what they are up against, and repression is not a method that will succeed in permanently or effectively crushing the revolt," Danilo Erdeljan, a student in Novi Sad, told DW. "The only thing we can do is resist — in any way we know. We cannot allow things to remain like this in the future as well."

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan