Forty-two folks have been detained at an anti-government protest within the Serbian metropolis of Novi Sad, the place police fired tear gasoline to disperse the group, the Interior Minister stated on Saturday (September 6, 2025).
Several thousand folks rallied in Novi Sad late Friday in search of early elections within the newest in a sequence of student-led protests throughout Serbia sparked by the deadly collapse of the northern metropolis’s practice station roof final November.
The tragedy, which killed 16 folks, was extensively blamed on entrenched corruption, with protesters’ calls for for a clear investigation rising into requires snap elections.
“Students have one urgent demand: Call elections”, learn a big banner carried by the protesters on Friday.
After speeches the protesters marched in the direction of town’s college campus the place police used tear gasoline and stun grenades to disperse them.
Protesters had earlier thrown flares and bottles at the police, in accordance with the Beta information company.
Thirteen cops have been injured in a “massive and brutal attack” by the protesters and 42 folks have been detained, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic informed state-run RTS tv on Saturday.
The protesters attacked police in entrance of the school of philosophy throwing stones, flares and with bars, he stated.
Violence in opposition to police was “appalling and apparently planned” for use as a “political fuel to raise tensions”, the minister burdened.
Almost each day demonstrations, piling stress on President Aleksandar Vucic, primarily handed off peacefully. But in mid-August they degenerated into violence that protesters blamed on heavy-handed techniques by authorities loyalists and police.
Authorities have rejected allegations of brutality, regardless of movies exhibiting officers beating unarmed protesters and accusations that activists have been assaulted whereas in custody.
Vucic late Friday accused the protesters of making an attempt to “threaten the stability and security of Serbia” and “occupy the university premises in Novi Sad”.
“People in Serbia should know that the state is stronger than anyone … that will always be the case,” he stated. Pro-government rallies shall be held throughout Serbia on Sunday, the President added.
The protests have led to the resignation of the prime minister and the collapse of his authorities.
But Vucic has to date disregarded calls for for snap elections and alleges the demonstrations, the most important of which have drawn lots of of hundreds of individuals, are a part of a international plot.
