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Demonstrators used garbage bins and planters to set up barricades and blocked streetcar and vehicle traffic in downtown Belgrade for several hours, local media reported. The government responded with riot police, armored vehicles of the Gendarmerie, and horse cavalry sent to push back and disperse the crowd.

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said 10 officers were injured on Wednesday, including one who broke both legs after being pushed down a flight of stairs. He added that police only used force when the protesters tried to "lynch" them, using fence posts, clubs, shovels, rocks, teargas canisters and even Molotov cocktails to attack the officers.

Meanwhile, videos shared by protesters on social media showed a group of riot police beating up a demonstrator curled up on the ground.

Some opposition leaders indeed tried to take over the protests on Tuesday; video showed former Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic getting booed and slapped upside the head when he tried to join the crowd outside the parliament.

On Wednesday, Democrats blamed "regime provocateurs" for that incident and organized a small protest themselves. However, when former President Boris Tadic attempted to join the main crowd, he was booed, insulted and chased off.

Local media showed photos of demonstrators carrying a cross and waving all manner of Serbian flags, including the one dedicated to Kosovo, a breakaway province run by NATO and ethnic Albanians since the 1999 war. Vucic is supposed to meet with French and German leaders later this week to arrange negotiations with the ethnic Albanian leadership, and many of the protesters accuse him of "treason" for allegedly planning to recognize their secession.

Some of the hand-made signs carried by protesters did feature the "Otpor fist" that became notorious in 2000, but also said "This is for you, dad" - quoting a young man who told reporters on Tuesday that his father had died of Covid-19 because there weren't enough ventilators.

The brewing unrest is actually a coup attempt, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin opined on Thursday while speaking on local television. The "terrible street violence" has purely political backgrounds, he argued.

We have a coup attempt, we have an attempt to seize power by force and an attempt to provoke a civil war in Serbia. It cannot be described in any other way.

President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Tuesday that a curfew would be put in place this Friday and run throughout the weekend. Right after, thousands of people gathered outside the parliament.

They clashed with police while apparently trying to get into the building. Riot squads fired tear gas to force the crowds back.

According to Defense Minister Vulin, the protests were a coordinated action and "did not happen by accident." He noted that media coverage across the Balkans was generally hostile toward the Serbian government, which, again, "is not accidental."

It is obvious that there is an orchestrated [media] campaign because they do not want a successful and stable Serbia.

The Balkan nation has reported over 17,000 Covid-19 cases and over 340 fatalities. Mass protests, in which people didn't keep apart, have only increased the risk of spreading the contagion, Vulin warned.

"I wonder who will be responsible for the fact that hundreds and thousands of people became infected yesterday and the day before yesterday," he said.

Meanwhile, President Vucic backtracked on the curfew. The government is expected to try other measures, including shortened hours for public spaces and fines for those not wearing protective masks.

• Massive protests rock Serbian capital after govt forces population BACK into Covid-19 lockdown