A few dozen residents of Valjevo gathered in front of their town hall on Tuesday, August 19. Three days earlier, the building's windows had been destroyed during a night of violence that shook this Serbian town of 60,000 inhabitants located an hour's drive south of Belgrade, the country's capital. "Sign a petition to demand early elections, and sign another petition to demand the resignation of the local police commissioner," said a young, brown-haired student who was leading the small crowd that had come to condemn the police brutality that had occurred the previous week.

For two consecutive nights in Valjevo, law enforcement officers beat and arrested protesters – sometimes even minors who were just passing by – while masked enforcers, who appeared to be acting on behalf of the authorities, looted several businesses owned by local opponents of President Aleksandar Vucic. The video footage, which was widely shared on social media, deeply shocked Serbia. For the past nine months, the Balkan country had been swept by a large, mostly peaceful anti-corruption protest movement, but it is now tipping toward violence due to provocations from those in power.

On Saturday, August 16, amid another protest that drew several thousand people, a group of vandals set fire to the local office of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which is led by Vucic, and threw stones at the town hall. "We have been protesting for months, demanding that the president hold early legislative elections. Instead, he attacks us. We are forced to defend ourselves," a student said, justifying the violence. Fearing arrest and adhering to the student movement's rule of not allowing a single leader to emerge, she refused to be named.

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