Reports on what triggered the violence vary, however, the area was quickly a scene of a massive riot with heavy clashes that erupted between hundreds of protesters and members of the police. Reporters present at the protests described the scenes that followed as "a war zone" and as unprecedented in the history of Slovenia, since its independence in 1991. The violence started at around 18:15 CET and escalated after the use of force and tear gas by the police, which scattered the crowd into a number of smaller groups and fighting continued for several hours on different locations within the city centre. Clashes occurred on most of Maribor's town squares, with particularly heavy fighting on "Rudolf Maister square" ('), "Castle square" (') and the "Main square" (""), the site of the protests on 21 November. The police used all means available to them using tear gas, police dogs and even mounted police, which was indiscriminately charging into the protesters and even the journalists. Overlooking the sky was a police helicopter, which helped throw tear gas into the streets. At around 22:00 CET the situation had stabilized and Maribor streets were left deserted.