Serbian police arrested or detained at least seven people on Wednesday on suspicion of planning violence around Sunday's parliamentary elections, Balkan Insight reports.
Five men aged 27 and 28 were held in Novi Sad. Prosecutors in Belgrade, working with the security intelligence agency BIA, accuse them of recruiting people for clashes and of planning to attack political opponents and police officers in the capital, using items such as balaclavas, flares, poles and knives. They can be held for up to 48 hours.
Opposition-linked activists were also detained. A lawyer for Srdjan Ilic, a member of the group Belgrade Stays, said police searched his client's home and seized his devices. An opposition coordinator in Vrnjacka Banja said a local activist was taken from his home early in the morning. The arrests come days before a closely watched vote.
Source: Balkan Insight
