site.btaAt Least Seven Arrested during Anti-Government Rally in Belgrade

At least seven demonstrators were arrested during an anti-government protest in Belgrade’s Slavija Square on Saturday, organized by Serbian university students. After clashing with police, the demonstrators were rounded up in a matter of minutes and taken to a detention centre, the authorities said.

Protesters threw bottles, smoke bombs and stones and fired signal rockets at the police, who used tear gas against the crowd on King Alexander Blvd, which, with its length of 7.5 km, is the longest thoroughfare in the Serbian capital, known as Revolution Boulevard for decades after World War II. Some people in the crowd put on gas masks.

Green spaces, flower beds and several stores along King Alexander Blvd were damaged in the turmoil. Police sirens, vuvuzelas and vehicle horns were sounded. A video posted on social media shows police chasing demonstrators down the boulevard.

Law enforcers moved over to the Law Faculty of the University of Belgrade, but according to students, who had been blocking the place for months, the enforcers would not enter the building.

Earlier in the clashes between gendarmerie and protesters, Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic wrote on the social network X that the protesters intend to incite a civil war.

Students said in an Instagram post that the government had all the leverage necessary to meet their demand to call snap elections, but did not do it, and therefore the mounting tension should be blamed on the authorities.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic appeared in front of supporters in Pioneers Park, who held a surprise reading commemorating the heroes of Vidovdan, June 28, a significant date in the history of the Serbian people since the 14th century. The reading took place between Pioneers Park and the Parliament building hours before the students started their protest in Slavija Square.