Belgrade - Hundreds of anti-riot police used batons to disperse 30,000 demonstrators in Belgrade yesterday, injuring at least 23 people while trying to prevent them marching across a bridge separating the old and new parts of the town. Twenty one people were detained by the police.
The protest was organised by the opposition umbrella group the Alliance for Change. It was the second time police had intervened to prevent marchers since the Alliance began its campaign of daily demonstrations on September 21st, in a bid to oust Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic from power.
One man who suffered serious head injuries was admitted to the hospital.
The police said that "hooligans suddenly attacked policemen on the regular duty on the bridge," the official Tanjug news agency reported.