Eurasia Press & News
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on Sunday that police arrested 77 people after violence erupted in the wake of a mass protest in central Belgrade – while officials warned that further arrests could be imminent.
Dacic told media that “criminal charges will be filed against 35, and a request to initiate misdemeanour proceedings will be filed against 26 persons”.
The demonstration at Slavija Square in the capital on Saturday evening was the latest in a series of student-led rallies and occupations of university faculty buildings in Serbia since last November, initially sparked by the Novi Sad railway station disaster.
The protesters voiced two demands: snap elections and the dismantling of a pro-government tent camp in the centre of Belgrade near the National Assembly.
The Serbian Interior Ministry estimated the numbers attending at 36,000 people, but the Archive of Public Gatherings, an NGO that counts people at protests, estimated that about 140,000 people were present during a 16-minute vigil held in and around Slavija Square.
While the protest was ongoing, Serbian Progressive Party supporters held a gathering in the park where the pro-government tent camp is located, around a kilometre away.
After the protest finished on Saturday night, protesters clashed with police who were preventing people from accessing the part of city centre around the tent camp.
While the clashes were ongoing, the student protest organisers issued a statement saying that any further escalation would be the government’s responsibility.
“The government had all the mechanisms and all the time to fulfil the demands and prevent escalation. Instead, they opted for violence and repression against the public. Any radicalisation of the situation is their responsibility,” said the statement on the Student Blockade account on X.
Interior Minister Dacic said that 48 police officers were injured and 22 people sought medical help at the Clinical Centre of Serbia.
Meanwhile Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told media that what he described as a “colour revolution” was over.
He also accused the student protesters of “direct invitation to civil strife”.
“I demand that the relevant prosecutor’s offices do their job, not act ineptly and naively, the time of holding people to account is coming,” Vucic said.
Vucic also threatened that more people will be arrested as the process of identifying suspects is still ongoing.
The situation in Serbia was already tense prior to the protest. All rail traffic was suspended due to anonymous bomb threat, as it was before a previous mass rally in Belgrade in March.
Several people were also arrested before Saturday’s rally over allegations that they were plotting to “overthrow the state”.
On the day of the rally, some protesters and student organisations claimed that buses they had booked to travel to Belgrade were stopped by police and not allowed to go any further.
While the clashes were ongoing, the student protest organisers issued a statement saying that any further escalation would be the government’s responsibility.
“The government had all the mechanisms and all the time to fulfil the demands and prevent escalation. Instead, they opted for violence and repression against the public. Any radicalisation of the situation is their responsibility,” said the statement on the Student Blockade account on X.
Interior Minister Dacic said that 48 police officers were injured and 22 people sought medical help at the Clinical Centre of Serbia.
Meanwhile Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told media that what he described as a “colour revolution” was over.
He also accused the student protesters of “direct invitation to civil strife”.
“I demand that the relevant prosecutor’s offices do their job, not act ineptly and naively, the time of holding people to account is coming,” Vucic said.
Vucic also threatened that more people will be arrested as the process of identifying suspects is still ongoing.
The situation in Serbia was already tense prior to the protest. All rail traffic was suspended due to anonymous bomb threat, as it was before a previous mass rally in Belgrade in March.
Several people were also arrested before Saturday’s rally over allegations that they were plotting to “overthrow the state”.
On the day of the rally, some protesters and student organisations claimed that buses they had booked to travel to Belgrade were stopped by police and not allowed to go any further.
