Serbian police fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government protesters demanding snap elections and an end to the 12-year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic. Serbians have been taking to the streets since last November to denonce rampant corruption in the government.
Issued on: 28/06/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Riot police fired tear gas at thousands of anti-government protesters in Serbia's capital on Saturday.
The major rally in Belgrade against Serbia's populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, was called to back a demand for an early parliamentary election.
The protest by tens of thousands was held after nearly eight months of persistent demonstrations led by Serbia's university students that have rattled Vucic's firm grip on power in the Balkan country.
The huge crowd chanted “We want elections!” as they filled the capital’s central Slavija Square and several blocks around it, with many unable to reach the venue.
Tensions were high before and during the gathering. Riot police deployed around government buildings and close to a camp of Vucic’s loyalists in central Belgrade. Skirmishes erupted between riot officers and groups of protesters near the camp.
“Elections are a clear way out of the social crisis caused by the deeds of the government, which is undoubtedly against the interests of their own people,” said one of the students, who didn't give her name while giving a speech on a stage to the crowd. “Today, on June 28, 2025, we declare the current authorities illegitimate.”
At the end of the official part of the rally, students told the crowd to “take freedom into your own hands.”
University students have been a key force behind nationwide anti-corruption demonstrations that started after a renovated rail station canopy collapsed, killing 16 people on Nov. 1.
Many blamed the concrete roof crash on rampant government corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects, leading to recurring mass protests.
“We are here today because we cannot take it any more,” Darko Kovacevic said. “This has been going on for too long. We are mired in corruption."
Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have repeatedly refused the demand for an early vote and accused protesters of planning to spur violence on orders from abroad, which they didn't specify.
Vucic's authorities have launched a crackdown on Serbia's striking universities and other opponents, while increasing pressure on independent media as they tried to curb the demonstrations.
While numbers have shrunk in recent weeks, the massive showing for Saturday's anti-Vucic rally suggested that the resolve persists, despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.
Serbian police, which is firmly controlled by Vucic's government, said that 36,000 people were present at the start of the protest on Saturday.
Saturday marks St. Vitus Day, a religious holiday and the date when Serbs mark a 14th-century battle against Ottoman Turks in Kosovo that was the start of hundreds of years of Turkish rule, holding symbolic importance.
In their speeches, some of the speakers at the student rally on Saturday evoked the theme, which was also used to fuel Serbian nationalism in the 1990s that later led to the incitement of ethnic wars following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
Hours before the student-led rally, Vucic’s party bused in scores of its own supporters to Belgrade from other parts of the country, many wearing T-shirts reading: “We won’t give up Serbia.” They were joining a camp of Vucic’s loyalists in central Belgrade where they have been staying in tents since mid-March.
In a show of business as usual, Vucic handed out presidential awards in the capital to people he deemed worthy, including artists and journalists.
“People need not worry — the state will be defended and thugs brought to justice," Vucic told reporters on Saturday.
Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections are due in 2027.
Earlier this week, police arrested several people accused of allegedly plotting to overthrow the government and banned entry into the country, without explanation, to several people from Croatia and a theater director from Montenegro.
Serbia's railway company halted train service over an alleged bomb threat in what critics said was an apparent bid to prevent people from traveling to Belgrade for the rally.
Authorities made similar moves back in March, before what was the biggest ever anti-government protest in the Balkan country, which drew hundreds of thousands of people.
Vucic’s loyalists then set up a camp in a park outside his office, which still stands. The otherwise peaceful gathering on March 15 came to an abrupt end when part of the crowd suddenly scattered in panic, triggering allegations that authorities used a sonic weapon against peaceful protesters — an accusation officials have denied.
Vucic, a former extreme nationalist, has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power more than a decade ago. Though he formally says he wants Serbia to join the European Union, critics say Vucic has stifled democratic freedoms as he strengthened ties with Russia and China.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
Tens of thousands of protesters, led by students and anti-corruption activists, flooded the streets of Belgrade on June 28, calling for snap parliamentary elections and an end to President Aleksandar Vucic’s 12-year rule.
Gathering on Slavija Square in the Serbian capital, demonstrators marked Vidovdan, one of Serbia’s most politically symbolic dates, with a protest that showed widespread dissatisfaction with the government. The protest remained peaceful throughout the day, tensions flared after 10:30 p.m.
The government claimed the turnout was around 36,000, though aerial images and ground reports suggest significantly higher numbers, with crowds overflowing from the city’s main junction into surrounding streets. The Archive of Public Gatherings estimated that around 140,000 people were present.
“The ultimatum has expired,” student organisers declared toward the end of the protest, referring to a 9:00 p.m. deadline they had set for the government to announce elections or face a wave of civil disobedience.
The demonstration took place amid escalating rhetoric and security crackdowns from the government. In the days leading up to the protest, Serbian authorities arrested several individuals they accused of plotting a violent coup. State-aligned media aired reports of discovered weapons, dubbing it proof of what Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) called a “colour revolution” backed by foreign actors.
Despite fears of unrest, the protest unfolded peacefully through most of the day — mirroring the tone of previous mass demonstrations this year. Trains into the capital were suspended following a reported bomb threat, in what critics saw as a bid to suppress turnout. Still, convoys of motorbikes and cars with out-of-town license plates poured into Belgrade, with bikers assembling outside the IKEA on the highway before joining the march.
“Today, June 28, 2025, we declare the current government illegitimate,” a student protester said from the stage. “In the last 13 years, we have witnessed the collapse of all fundamental institutions. There is no area where corruption has not entered.”
The protest, timed to coincide with Vidovdan — the anniversary of the 1389 Battle of Kosovo — carries deep historical and political weight. The date also marks other pivotal moments in Serbian history, including the 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the 1948 expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Cominform, and the 2001 extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague.
That symbolism was not lost on either the demonstrators or the state. “Students are our only true comrades-in-arms,” said Nenad Stanić, a veteran of the 1999 Battle of Košare, addressing the crowd. “There is no giving up, no withdrawal, no surrender and no turning back.”
Individuals from all walks of life attended the rally — veterans, students, bikers, pensioners, and celebrities such as former basketball stars Dejan Koturovic and Dejan Bodiroga. The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Dokic, addressed the crowd, warning of a country turning away from democratic and cultural values. “Everyone here can see the kind of crisis the country is sinking into, which rejects those values, underestimates knowledge and culture, destroys institutions,” he said.
The protest followed a smaller pro-government rally near Pionirski Park, organised by the SNS. Authorities quickly dismissed the opposition gathering as a failure, claiming the turnout was three times smaller than that of the March protests.
In an increasingly defensive tone, President Vucic continues to frame dissent as foreign interference. He is currently writing what he describes as a “manual” for defending sovereign governments against colour revolutions. On a recent trip to the UAE, he claimed that Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan expressed interest in publishing the book in the Arab market — a gesture Vucic said meant a great deal to him.
“I will write it personally, no one else will write it,” Vucic told TV Pink earlier this year. “I believe it will be one of the best-selling books in the world... a textbook on how enemies of free countries are organised, how they bribe people in your country, how they train them.”
Critics have pointed to what they call increasingly surreal claims by the president, including suggestions that “blockaders” — many of whom were children or not yet born in 2001 — were responsible for orchestrating the extradition of Milosevic.
Late in the evening, clashes broke out between protesters and police as authorities attempted to prevent crowds from moving towards the Presidency where pro-government demonstrators had earlier gathered. Student organisers announced they no longer had control over the situation after riot police used tear gas and pepper spray to push back crowds.
Members of the Gendarmerie used megaphones to demand that protesters leave or face intervention. According to independent outlet N1, journalists were injured in the scuffles. Firecrackers and cannon shots were reportedly thrown, and masked individuals clashed with riot police, with some throwing flares to break through police cordons — marking a rare escalation after months of largely peaceful demonstrations.
After eight months of tireless protest and government evasion, students are still able to mobilise tens of thousands to the streets. The longer the protests continue, however, the greater chance there is for incidents and clashes with the police. For President Vucic, the only off-ramp may lie at the ballot box.
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