According to the protest, the police and demonstrators were to be clashed, and according to the Minister of the Interior, the police used powers. They also used stun grenades.
On Saturday, approximately 140,000 protesters gathered in Belgrade, Serbia, who demanded early elections from the government, the public gathering archive said. According to AFP, the police and demonstrators occurred to the clashes, TASR reports.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačič said that the protest participants attacked the police. In his words, she used her powers to restore public order and detained all the attackers. Police used tear gas and stun grenades for protesters, while the demonstrators were throwing flares and projectiles at them, AFP said.
During several hours of struggles in the center of Belgrade, the police reportedly detained dozens of demonstrators. According to AP, one injured police officer who was lying on the ground could also be seen. Police explained that six law protectors suffered injuries, but the number of injured citizens is unknown.
More than a hundred thousand people gathered
The security authorities initially estimated that approximately 36,000 people gathered in Belgrade. However, the public gathering archive, which monitors the size of the crowds, said on the X platform that there were “about 140,000 people present in the protest organized by students.
Protests against corruption have been shaken by this Balkan country since November 2024, when 16 people killed the roof of the railway station in the city of Nový Sad. Many blamed for the collapse of the superstructure by corruption and the neglect of supervision of state infrastructure projects. Students have been blocking universities for more than half a year and organizing large demonstrations across the country, demanding a transparent examination of these deaths. However, due to the poor activity of the authorities, they focused on calls for early parliamentary elections in May.
Before Saturday’s protest, students gave the “ultimatum” of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič with a deadline until 21.00 (CEST), ie three hours after the start of the protest at one of the main Belgrade squares. However, Vučič has already rejected students’ requirements for instant elections on Friday. He stated that the national elections would not take place before the end of 2026.
“Serbia will always win,” said President Vučič in a post on Instagram.
