Riot police use force to end prison strike

Riot police used force this morning to end an inmates’ protest against a delayed amnesty law in two prisons in Serbia.

Buses brought in riot police to the Zabela detention facility, in Pozarevac, 60 miles east of Belgrade, where about 140 inmates had barricaded themselves in one of the pavilions, prison officials said without providing details.

About 50 prisoners had climbed on a prison building roof, shouting that they would jump off if the police acted against them.

Media were banned from filming while journalists outside Zabela gates reported receiving mobile phone messages from protesting inmates saying that some of them have cut their wrists.

Meanwhile, ambulances and about 200 riot police were also dispatched to the prison in Nis, Serbia's second largest city, about 100 miles south-east of Belgrade.

After more than an hour, ambulances sped out of the prison gates and away with flashing lights, but no one would confirm reports that clashes had taken place inside.

Nis physician Srbobran Trenkic said the hospital treated 38 inmates from the prison; 30 of them were bandaged and sent back, while two were taken into surgery.