SERBIA ROCKED BY VIOLENT CLASHES AS ANTI-GOVERNMENT PROTESTS INTENSIFY

Sun 17 August 2025:

Mass riots took place late on Saturday night in a number of cities in Serbia, rioters attacked police officers, set fire to and destroyed offices of government agencies and political parties, Reuters reported quoting Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

According to the minister, the most complicated situation has been reported in the city of Valjevo, where up to 4,000 people participated in protest actions. The offices of the Serbian Progressive Party were vandalized and set on fire.

“Fortunately, there was no one inside [the premises],” Dacic said. “Given the fact that the facility serves both as a residential and office building where people reside, a fire could have endangered their lives.”

On Friday night, Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, said the state was stronger than any protest and praised the police for their conduct during the latest demonstrations. “This is the phase of despair and helplessness, when you have nothing more to offer the citizens except beatings, clubs, and all the rest,” he told the national TV broadcaster RTS.

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According to the local police reports, some 1,300 people participated in protests across Belgrade and they cast Molotov cocktails at law enforcement officers.

Up to 500 protesters gathered in Novi Sad, where the 50-meter-long concrete roof above the entrance of the railway station in Serbia’s second-largest city collapsed in 2024 killing 15 people.

“The police stepped in and restored public order in Novi Sad, Belgrade and Valjevo,” Serbia’s top interior official added.

According to him, a police officer was injured in Valjevo, while a total of 18 rioters were reported to be detained.

Protests gripped Serbia in November 2024, sparked by the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse. The tragedy left 15 people dead. Protestors blame the government and demand snap parliamentary elections.

On Wednesday night, protests took place in several Serbian cities, accompanied by attacks on the premises of the ruling SPP and the Socialist Party of Serbia. Dacic said 27 police officers and more than 80 civilians were injured in the attacks that day. The largest number of victims were supporters of the SPP, who gathered at the local branches of the party.

According to the Interior Ministry, protesters threw stones and pyrotechnics at buildings, five official vehicles and 22 pieces of equipment were damaged. A total of 47 people were detained, 47 administrative and five criminal protocols were drawn up. One of the most serious incidents was the attack on the soldiers of the special forces Cobra by a group of about 100 people in Novi Sad. A warning shot was fired into the air to protect the military.

The student-led protests began in November last year after the collapse of part of the outdoor roof at Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people. Many blamed the tragedy on entrenched corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects.

Vigils for the victims swiftly escalated into mass demonstrations, with hundreds of thousands of Serbians demanding an investigation into the tragedy, as well as early elections.

The protests have rocked the Serbian government, causing Miloš Vučević, the prime minister at the time of the Novi Sad disaster, to resign and the end of his cabinet. Yet Vučić remains in power, despite accusations that he has stifled democratic freedoms while allowing corruption to flourish.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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