Stuart Lau and James Charter
BBC News
Watch: Violent clashes occur during protests in Belgrade, Serbia
Serb police clashed with a crowd of anti-government protesters demanding early elections in President Alexandervich’s 12-year rule in the capital Belgrade and demanding that the election be ended.
A sea of about 140,000 protesters gathered in the city as student-led demonstrations put pressure on the populist government. “I want an election!” the crowd chanted.
Dozens of people were arrested after seeing riot police fire tear gas and stan rena bullets.
VUCIC has accused protesters of calling for elections that they are part of a foreign conspiracy to take away their country. “They wanted to defeat Serbia, but they failed,” he wrote on his Instagram page.
Five people were detained on Friday and accused of plotting to overthrow the government, according to a statement from the Serbian High Court in Belgrade.
After the clash, the police minister strongly condemned the violence by the protesters and said the person responsible would be arrested.
Months of protests across the country, including the university closure, rattle Mr. Vicz. Mr. Vicz’s second term will end in 2027, when parliamentary elections are also scheduled.
Reuters
Surjana Rojanovic, 37, a farmer from the town of Sid in the north, said he came on Saturday to support students.
“The institutions are being taken away, and… there’s a lot of corruption. The election is the solution, but I don’t want him (vucic) to go peacefully,” she told Reuters.
The president has previously refused snap elections. His progressive party-led coalition holds 156 of the 250 seats.
Vucic’s opponents denounce his allies for restraining organized crime, corruption, violence against rivals and media freedom they deny.
He maintains close ties with Russia, and Serbia is a candidate for EU membership – not joining the Western sanctions regime imposed on Moscow for Ukrainian invasion.
Reuters
The protests by students, opposition parties, teachers, workers and farmers began last December after 16 people died in the collapse of the roof of the Novi Sad railway station on November 1. Protesters condemn the corruption of the disaster.
The accident has already forced the former Prime Minister to resign.
When Saturday’s protests ended, organizers issued a statement to the crowd, urging Serbs to “take their own freedom” and giving them a “green light.”
“The authorities have all the mechanisms, they have always been there to meet the demands and prevent escalation,” the organizers said in a statement on Instagram after the rally.
“Instead, they chose to violence and suppress people. The radicalization of the situation is their responsibility.”
