Printed On 24 Could 2026
Clashes have damaged out between protesters and riot police after an antigovernment rally within the Serbian capital, Belgrade.
Massive crowds of demonstrators poured into central Belgrade on Saturday, many carrying banners and carrying T-shirts emblazoned with the “College students win” motto of the youth motion that organised the gathering.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has sought to rein in mass demonstrations which have challenged his hardline rule within the Balkan nation. The scale of Saturday’s turnout instructed that dissent stays sturdy greater than a yr after protests first started with demonstrators demanding accountability for a practice station tragedy in northern Serbia in November 2024 that killed 16 folks.
Anticorruption protests pressured then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign in January 2025 earlier than the authorities moved to clamp down on the motion. Many in Serbia blamed the concrete cover collapse on the station on alleged corruption-fuelled negligence throughout renovation work carried out with Chinese language firms.
On Saturday, Serbia’s state railway firm cancelled all trains to and from Belgrade in what gave the impression to be an effort to stop a minimum of some folks from travelling to the capital from different components of the nation.
In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, the president mentioned protesters “have proven their violent nature and that they can’t stand political opponents”. Vucic, who was en path to China for a state go to, added: “The state is functioning and can proceed to work in step with the legislation.”
College students on Saturday demanded early elections and the rule of legislation, accusing the federal government of crime and corruption. They mentioned they now plan to problem Vucic on this yr’s elections, which they hope will unseat his right-wing populist authorities. Vucic mentioned on Thursday that the parliamentary elections might be held between September and November.
Clashes have been first reported close to a park camp of Vucic loyalists exterior the Serbian presidency constructing. The camp was arrange earlier than one other massive antigovernment rally final March as a human defend in opposition to protesters. Folks music blared from a fenced-off space surrounded by rows of riot police in full gear.
The Serbian president has come underneath worldwide scrutiny for his hardline ways in opposition to demonstrators over the previous yr, together with arbitrary arrests and using extreme power. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticised Serbia’s authorities in a report after he visited the nation final week and mentioned he “will monitor the state of affairs intently”.
O’Flaherty additionally cited “experiences of police defending unidentified and infrequently masked attackers of journalists and protesters”. He mentioned the general human rights state of affairs has deteriorated since his earlier go to in April 2025.
Serbia is searching for to hitch the European Union whereas cultivating shut ties with Russia and China. Democratic backsliding underneath Vucic might value the nation about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8bn) in EU funding, the bloc’s prime enlargement official warned final month.
