AUTHORITIES MUST APPREHEND ORGANIZERS AND LEADERS TO END UNREST

BELGRADE, AUGUST 17 /SRNA/ - The Serbian authorities should apprehend between 100 and 1,000 organizers and leaders of the protests to end the unrest in the country, said Vojislav Šešelj, president of the Serbian Radical Party /SRS/.

"Without that, there will be no real reduction of tensions. If you detain 100 to 1,000 key organizers, at first, there will be noise, Western interference, especially from the EU, and pressure, but then everything will calm down. The riots will end once they see the determination of the state. Until the authorities understand that this is the only way to stop the unrest, it will continue," Šešelj told RIA Novosti.

Šešelj emphasized that the demonstrators are "hooligans under the influence of drugs," which they use to amplify aggression and suppress fear.

He added that SRS branches in the Belgrade neighborhood of Zemun and in Novi Sad were attacked, with windows smashed and party flags burned, along with similar attacks on other offices across the country.

Šešelj welcomed the police action against demonstrators but stressed that detaining only some rioters would not be enough.

He mentioned the Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić; Vice-Rector Nebojša Bojović; scientists Dušan Todorović and Vladimir Kostić; other professors from various Belgrade faculties as well as from Novi Sad and other cities; lawyer Zdenko Tomanović; and several figures he called "inspirers and leaders of the protests," who should be detained.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia announced today that six police officers were injured and 56 people were detained last night during unrest in Valjevo, Belgrade, and other cities.

Offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Šešelj’s SRS, and the Socialist Movement, led by former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, were targeted in attacks by hooligans.