Dozens have been arrested and many more injured as clashes between anti-government protesters, supporters of the incumbent Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and riot police enter their third day. The protests, carried out under the slogan “Serbia, Wake Up”, build on nine months of anti-government demonstrations against systemic corruption.
Thousands of protestors across roughly 30 Serbian cities have taken to the streets this week in the latest escalation of demonstrations against populist President Aleksander Vučić, who stands widely accused of corruption and autocracy, according to Al Jazeera.
On August 13th, anti-government demonstrators clashed with SNS loyalists, exchanging flares as opponents to Vučić’s regime demanded early elections and accountability within governance.
These protests indicate the greatest challenge to Vučić’s 12-year Presidency since March 15, when roughly 300,000 protestors convened in Belgrade to express their opposition to perceived corruption within Serbia’s political leadership and infrastructure projects.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic revealed that 47 were arrested on Wednesday evening, with roughly 80 civilians and 30 riot police being injured.
Although protests have largely remained peaceful since they started in November 2024, unrest intensified on Thursday evening, when anti-government protestors in the north-western city of Novi Sad vandalised local SNS offices.
Sustained student movement builds into nationwide uprising
Anti-government protests began last November, after the collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad killed 16 people. The failed infrastructure project, licensed out to a private Chinese firm, had not met the safety regulations required by law at the time of opening.
For many, the tragedy came to symbolise the systemic corruption in Serbia’s government, and the Students in Blockade movement led months of peaceful protests over lacking transparency and accountability.
Despite unlawful arrests by police and attacks by government supporters, students have continued to demand the release of all government files related to the Novi Sad railway collapse – a plea that has been ignored by government officials, activists say.
Nevertheless, what began as a peaceful and resilient student-led movement 10 months ago has grown into a nationwide uprising against broader corruption, including demands for governmental accountability in addition to free and fair elections.
One protester in Belgrade, Nadja Suljikanović, spoke to EU Reports about the demonstrations’ wider significance.
“People are calling for re-elections, considering the ones throughout the previous decade have been riddled with corruption, which ensured SNS’s victory,” she stated.
Dissenters’ concerns have expanded to include electoral corruption, fuelling calls for early elections. In its most recent report on Serbia, NGO Freedom House exposed the “escalating harassment and intimidation” of opposition figures, “resulting in the suppression of opposition parties’ political representation at every level”.
Government response to opposition
Through a press release on August 14, Vučić referred to anti-government demonstrators as “thugs and bullies”, and told the pro-government channel Informer that “the state will win” as he announced expanded police powers in order to crack down on dissent.
Riot police deployed tear gas into crowds and confronted anti-government protesters in both Novi Sad and Belgrade this week.
“Anti-government protesters [have been] met with violence from the side of the SNS and the police, with the deployment of tear gas and policemen with batons being unleashed on unarmed civilians,” Suljikanović told EU reports.
Former President of Serbia Boris Tadić wrote on X on Wednesday: “I appeal to the international public to raise its voice in the strongest terms against the violence carried out by the current regime in Serbia”.
International responses
The SNS government’s crackdown on peaceful opposition has drawn sharp criticism from international rights groups and the European Parliament alike.
In a statement released by Amnesty International on July 4, the human rights group called on authorities to urgently investigate the “unlawful use force against student protestors” and “indiscriminate targeting of peaceful protesters.”
Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement, also expressed her concern over the reports of violence at protests in Serbia, a country which began negotiating its entry into the EU in 2014.
In her statement shared on social media platform X, Kos asserted that “advancing on the EU path requires [that] citizens can express their views freely and journalists can report without intimidation or attacks”.
Beyond its statements of condemnation on violence against demonstrators, however, the EU has not issued sanctions for Vučić’s autocratic measures, which include the use of state resources for election campaigns and limiting the opposition’s access to the media, as signalled by the Journal of Democracy.
Critics argue that the EU’s muted response to President Vučić’s regime has undermined its credibility as an institution built on the foundations of human rights, rule of law and democracy.
Featured Image Credit
Image: Riot police separate anti-government protestors and Vučić’s supporters
Source: BIRN/Milica Stojanovic
