Protesters driving through a village in eastern Serbia were stopped and assaulted by a local Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) official and his father.

The locals in a village outside the city of Zajecar were driving around to observe the Noise Against Dictatorship protest at the time of the main evening news on pro-regime TV stations.

The convoy of cars was stopped in front of SNS local councilor Neli Nikolic’s house where his father stood on the street verbally assaulting the drivers. Video footage showed that the father and other SNS activists started the altercation which grew into a physical assault which included the councilor. Nikolic is seen with another SNS official charging out of the house and verbally assaulting the drivers and later grabbing the phones of 2 girls who were recording the incident before knocking down one of the protesters and punching another.

Witnesses said Nikolic also jumped on the hood of one the cars which he also pounded with a rock.

The police turned out preventing more fighting and an assault on a local reporter by the SNS officials and activists.

Zajecar Mayor Bosko Nicic threatened retaliation in a Facebook post. He claimed that Nikolic and his family were assaulted in the village of Veliki Izvor. You will get a response for every act of violence, he wrote adding: “You have crossed every boundary – end game”.