FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Students at the University of Novi Sad said independent laboratory tests showed that police had used a banned form of tear gas against demonstrators during clashes earlier this month and demanded an investigation into those responsible.
Students from the Faculty of Science (PMF) said that the tests confirmed the presence of CS gas and CN gas, or chloroacetophenone, which was widely phased out in the 1970s due to its high toxicity. CN was banned by the United Nations in 1969.
"Due to its high toxicity and serious health consequences, CN gas was completely replaced by CS gas in the 1970s. The use of CN gas is not a means of control, but the poisoning of citizens," the students said in a statement posted on social media.
They demanded criminal liability for those who authorized its use and said they were willing to provide the collected samples for further testing.
Thousands of people gathered in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad on September 5 to protest police violence and what they described as violations of university autonomy. Clashes broke out after police tried to disperse the demonstrators, who had previously been evicted from occupied faculty buildings.
According to the students, dozens of discarded canisters were collected after the protest, some with their labels removed. They said the tests were conducted using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, the same method used in accredited laboratories around the world.
The interior ministry in Belgrade rejected the claims. "The Interior Ministry categorically denies the allegations. The police do not possess such a thing and therefore cannot use it," it said in a statement.
Serbia has been rocked by protests over the past 10 months, mostly peaceful until mid-August, when demonstrators clashed with police and set fire to the offices of the ruling party.
Lini një Përgjigje