Protesters in Serbia set fire to ruling SNS offices, prompting riot police to respond with stun grenades, tear gas, and arrests.
Protesters in Serbia set fire to ruling SNS offices, prompting riot police to respond with stun grenades, tear gas, and arrests.
Serbia has entered its fifth consecutive night of unrest, with anti-government demonstrators clashing with riot police and torching the offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
The latest violence erupted in the city of Valjevo, where masked protesters set fire to SNS facilities. Police responded with stun grenades and tear gas. Unverified footage circulating on social media also appeared to show officers beating a man, fuelling further allegations of police brutality. Serbia’s interior ministry has denied such claims.
Tensions have spread to the capital Belgrade and Novi Sad, where widespread protests have taken aim at President Aleksandar Vučić, accusing his government of corruption and negligence. The movement was sparked by a deadly railway station collapse in Novi Sad last November that killed 16 people, which critics say was the result of corner-cutting and graft.
Initially peaceful, the protests swelled to hundreds of thousands demanding early elections and systemic reforms. But the atmosphere shifted this week after pro-government loyalists staged counter-demonstrations. Offices and flags of Vučić’s SNS party have become frequent targets, with protesters also smashing windows at the Serbian Radical Party headquarters, a coalition partner of the ruling party.
International concern is mounting. Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, condemned what he called the police’s “disproportionate force,” urging Serbian authorities to halt arbitrary arrests and defuse tensions.
Vučić has rejected calls for early elections and dismissed the protests as a foreign-backed attempt to unseat him. In a statement posted to Instagram on Saturday, he described the unrest as “an expression of total weakness” and vowed to “punish the bullies.”
Russia has openly pledged support for Vučić, its close ally in the Balkans. “We cannot remain unresponsive to what is happening in brotherly Serbia,” Moscow’s Foreign Ministry said, defending police actions as “lawful methods” to contain “violent mobs.”
The protests have become the most significant challenge of Vučić’s 12-year rule, transforming from grief over the Novi Sad disaster into a nationwide movement against corruption and authoritarianism. With demonstrations intensifying and international scrutiny increasing, Serbia appears braced for a prolonged period of volatility.
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