On Saturday evening, Serbian police clashed with anti-government protesters who were demanding snap elections and an end to President Aleksandar Vucic’s 12-year rule.
Police deployed numerous officers in riot gear around government buildings, parliament, and nearby Pionirski Park, where throngs of Vucic’s supporters from across the country had gathered for a counter-protest.
After the protest concluded around 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), some protesters, seeking to confront Vucic’s backers, began throwing bottles, rocks, and flares at the police. Law enforcement responded with force to disperse them in various locations across Belgrade’s city center. Protesters were heard shouting: “Keep the shields down,” urging the police to cease their intervention.
Dragan Vasiljevic, the director of police, told a late Saturday press conference that several dozen protesters were detained, and six police officers were reported injured in the clashes.
President Vucic claimed the protesters attempted to overthrow the state. “They (protesters) wanted to topple Serbia, and they have failed,” he wrote on his Instagram page.
In a statement, students accused the government of escalating tensions. “They (authorities) … opted for violence and repression against the people. Every radicalisation of the situation is their responsibility,” students posted on the X social network.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic stated that police would act to maintain public order. “The police will take all measures to establish public order and peace, … and apply all its powers to repel attacks, and arrest all those who attacked the police,” Dacic affirmed.
Months of protests across the country, including university shutdowns, have rattled Vucic, a populist whose second term is set to end in 2027, when parliamentary elections are also scheduled. Vucic’s opponents accuse him and his allies of ties to organized crime, violence against rivals, and curbing media freedoms, allegations they deny.
The protesters, who aim for the government to meet their demands by the end of the demonstrations, have pledged non-violence. Vucic has previously refused calls for snap elections. His Progressive Party-led coalition currently holds 156 out of 250 parliamentary seats.
Earlier on Saturday, Vucic asserted that unspecified “foreign powers” were behind the protest. He called for police restraint but warned that violence would not be tolerated. “The country will be defended, and thugs will face justice,” he told reporters in Belgrade.
Sladjana Lojanovic, 37, a farmer from the northern town of Sid, expressed her support for the students. “The institutions have been usurped and … there is a lot of corruption. Elections are the solution, but I don’t think he (Vucic) will want to go peacefully,” she told Reuters.
In the days leading up to the protest, police arrested about a dozen anti-government activists, charging them with undermining the constitution and terrorism. All denied the charges.
Protests by students, opposition members, teachers, workers, and farmers began last December following the death of 16 people in a roof collapse at a Novi Sad railway station on November 1. Protesters blame corruption for the disaster.
The Belgrade rally coincided with St. Vitus Day, venerated by most Serbs, which commemorates the 1389 Battle of Kosovo with the Ottoman Turks.
