Thousands set up street blockades in Serbia after arrests of anti-government protesters

BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands of people Sunday set up street blockades in Serbia, angry over the arrest of anti-government protesters who clashed with police at a massive rally a day earlier demanding early elections.

Protesters put up metal fences and garbage containers at various locations in the capital, Belgrade, also blocking a key bridge over the Sava River. Protesters in the northern city of Novi Sad pelted with eggs the offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

Serbian media said similar protest blockades were organized in smaller cities in the Balkan country.

Protesters on Sunday demanded that authorities release dozens of university students and other protesters who were jailed for attacking the police or for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government at the rally Saturday in Belgrade.

Tens of thousands of people attended the rally held after nearly eight months of persistent dissent that has rattled President Aleksandar Vucic.

Protesters also declared the government “illegitimate” and said it bore the responsibility for any violence.

Clashes with riot police erupted after the official part of the rally ended. Police used pepper spray, batons and shields while protesters threw rocks, bottles and other objects.

Police said on Sunday that 48 officers were injured while 22 protesters sought medical help. Out of 77 people detained, 38 remained in custody Sunday, most of them facing criminal charges, said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic.

At least eight more people were detained during the day, the prosecutors said.

Vucic earlier Sunday announced the arrests at a news conference, accusing rally organizers of inciting violence and attacks on police and urging that they be prosecuted. He also criticized “terrorists and those who tried to bring down the state,” singling out University of Belgrade’s head dean, Vladan Djokic, who was among the protesters.

“There will be more arrests,” Vucic said. “Identification of all individuals is underway.”

At Saturday’s protest, 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.

Police handcuffed detained protesters, and an officer was seen injured on the ground during street battles in central Belgrade that lasted several hours.

Critics say Vucic, a staunch nationalist and ardent ally of President Trump, has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power more than a decade ago, stifling democratic freedoms while allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish — which he denies. Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry, but Vucic’s government has bolstered its relations with Russia and China.

As the protest officially ended, the demonstrators threw eggs, plastic bottles and other objects at riot police who were preventing the crowd from approaching a downtown park. At the park, hundreds of Vucic’s loyalists have been camping for months to form a human shield in front of his headquarters in the capital.

Some demonstrators wore scarfs and masks over their faces as they clashed with law enforcement, using garbage cans as protection against baton-wielding officers. Police used pepper spray before pushing protesters with their shields.

Tensions were high before and during the gathering as riot police deployed around government buildings.

“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 a student who didn’t give her name while addressing the crowd from a stage. “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.”

The protests started after a renovated rail station canopy collapsed in November, killing 16 people. Many in Serbia blamed the tragedy in the northern city of Novi Sad on corruption-fueled negligence in state infrastructure projects.

University students have been a key force behind nationwide anti-corruption demonstrations.

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 anymore,” student 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 or provide evidence of.

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.

Though numbers had 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, who are firmly controlled by Vucic’s government, said 36,000 people were present at the start of the protest Saturday. An independent monitoring group that records public gatherings said around 140,000 people attended the student-led rally.

Saturday was 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 for the protesters.

In their speeches Saturday, some of the rally speakers evoked the theme, which was also used to fuel Serbian nationalism in the 1990s that later led to the incitement of ethnic wars after the breakup of 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, including to artists and journalists. “People need not worry — the state will be defended and thugs brought to justice,” he told reporters Saturday.

Vucic has repeatedly rejected an immediate snap vote instead of the one planned for 2027.

“Serbia won. You cannot destroy Serbia with violence,” Vucic said Sunday. “They consciously wanted to spur bloodshed. The time of accountability is coming.”

Gec writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this report.