Serbia stages massive military parade as growing protests threaten leader’s grip on power

BELGRADE, Serbia — President Aleksandar Vucic is escalating his crackdown on protests that have shaken his increasingly authoritarian rule.

What began as a small, student-led campaign against corruption has snowballed into one of the most turbulent protest waves in the Balkan country in a quarter of a century.

Rights groups and Vucic’s political opponents have warned of increasingly brutal tactics aimed at silencing a movement that has become the biggest challenge yet to his enduring grip on power.

On Saturday, Serbia staged a massive military parade in the capital, showcasing tanks, missile systems and fighter jets in what officials described as the country’s biggest display of army strength in its history.

Vucic reviewed the parade, which included about 10,000 troops, saying the show of force underscored Serbia’s ability to defend its independence and sovereignty.

Columns of troops marched through the New Belgrade district of the capital as crowds waved national flags, while aircraft roared overhead.

Vucic’s nationalist background

Vucic has ruled Serbia for more than a decade, reshaping its politics while drawing accusations of corruption and authoritarianism.

He began his political career in the 1990s as a hard-line nationalist in the Serbian Radical Party, becoming information minister under the brutal authoritarian leadership of Slobodan Milosevic. Vucic was notorious for his calls to punish independent media and his wartime rhetoric against Serbia’s neighbors, which he maintains to this day.

Serbia was defeated in the wars in the Balkans, Milosevic was ousted by a wave of protests in October 2000, and Vucic reinvented himself as a pro-European reformer. He co-founded the Serbian Progressive Party, which promised modernization and European Union integration, but he consolidated his power through populism, control of the media and a tight grip on state institutions.

Origins of the protests

On Nov. 1, 2024, a canopy collapsed at the railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing at least 16 people. The tragedy, tied to a Chinese-backed renovation project, sparked outrage amid allegations of state-run corruption and negligence.

University students were the first to protest, blocking traffic every Friday for 15 minutes in memory of the dead.

But the anger over corruption quickly resonated beyond campuses, drawing crowds of ordinary citizens frustrated with rising costs of living and a sense of impunity among ruling-party elites.

Protesters now demand accountability, transparency and early elections.

Why the protests turned violent

At first, the demonstrations were peaceful marches and sit-ins. But tensions rose when authorities deployed riot police, plainclothes officers and even shady parapolice units, led by soccer hooligans loyal to Vucic, to disperse the gatherings with batons, sticks and flares.

Protesters reported beatings, arbitrary arrests and the use of tear gas, stun grenades and sonic devices — tactics that rights groups have condemned as brutal and excessive.

The harsh response from the authorities has fueled defiance. Students have escalated their actions by blocking major intersections, occupying university halls and staging sit-ins outside state institutions. Each new crackdown has drawn more people into the streets, creating a cycle of confrontation.

And whereas previous waves of protests petered out over a disputed property development, allegations of stolen elections and two mass shootings, this time the protests have escalated over time. Crucially, they have spread beyond Belgrade to dozens of cities and small towns across the country.

Saturday’s massive military parade was criticized by opposition leaders, who accused the government of using the army as a political prop, while rights groups noted that some state employees were pressured to attend the parade and were transported in hundreds of buses.

Hundreds of university students and other opposition supporters were prevented by riot police from joining other spectators of the parade.

Vucic’s response

Vucic has repeatedly branded the student protesters as “terrorists” who are working in conjunction with Western powers to remove him from office, without presenting any evidence. Although he has called for a dialogue with the students, he has refused to call early elections and warned of an even harsher response to the protests.

Students flatly rejected the offer of talks until early elections are called. In response to the student demands, authorities sacked more than 100 teachers, professors and deans and replaced them with Vucic’s loyalists.

Although some schools have reopened with new staff members, others have remained closed.

A strategic position between East and West

While under intense domestic pressure, Vucic continued projecting Serbia’s foreign diplomacy as balanced, managing complex relations with both the EU and his authoritarian allies, most notably Russia.

Vucic attended a summit Sept. 1 with leaders from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, where he said he received their support in dealing with the protests at home. He has also refused to join international sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which President Trump, a Vucic ally, has recently been advocating.

But he has also made no move to block Serbian exports of weapons to Ukraine, and this year he made his first visit to Kyiv, signaling a willingness to engage with Western-aligned nations.

Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, but negotiations have made slow progress.

Vucic’s tenure is marked by a centralization of power, suppression of dissent and tight control over the media, drawing scrutiny from human rights organizations.

He has openly advocated the closure of the last remaining independent TV outlets, N1 and Nova, or a purge of reporters and management. He has called them liars for their coverage of the protests, although they mainly broadcast live, with minimal intervention from editors or commentators.

Analysts and opposition groups argue that Europe must increase the pressure on Serbia to prevent its further democratic erosion.

EU officials have warned Vucic that progress toward EU membership depends on meeting certain standards, including reforms in the judiciary, media freedoms and fighting corruption.

At a time when Europe is dealing with the repercussions of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the EU has so far shown little willingness to confront Vucic and his government.

The Serbian opposition and some European Union lawmakers believe the EU’s reaction has been too timid, given that many leaders believe Vucic is the only one who can preserve peace in a region still reeling from a series of wars in the 1990s that left more than 100,000 people dead and millions homeless.

High stakes

The anti-graft rallies have become more than just a fight against corruption. They are now a direct challenge to Vucic’s heavy-handed rule, with demonstrators demanding free elections, an independent judiciary and accountability for police violence.

With neither side showing signs of backing down, Serbia faces a deepening political crisis and the risk of further unrest and even bloodshed.

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