After nine months of peaceful protests against the government in Serbia, ruling party supporters have also taken to the streets to counter the demonstrations, sparking clashes. Protesters accuse the government of staging violence and using the police for repression.

Belgrade

Serbia has seen a shift from months of peaceful protests to violent clashes involving police and demonstrators across several cities. Protesters, including students, express fear and insecurity amid reports of police brutality and ongoing arrests. The government, led by President Aleksandar Vucic, denies excessive use of force and claims that police officers have also been injured. Authorities have responded with strong rhetoric and counter-protests, emphasizing the need to restore order. While the president has offered dialogue, protesters continue to demand free and democratic elections, stating that anything less would not resolve the ongoing political crisis.

Rising tensions in Serbia: Protesters demand elections, state responds

Armoured vehicles, flares, stun grenades and chases with the police occur night after night in many Serbian cities. Nine months of peaceful protests suddenly turned into riots in mid-August. This also surprised Dusan Pesic, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Music who has been participating in blockades and street protests for months. We feel a certain insecurity and fear because we don't know what to expect tomorrow. We don't know if we will wake up in our beds or in the prison. No one is safe on the streets today and we witness more and more repression and police brutality every day. The Serbian government rejects claims of excessive use of force and states that hundreds of police officers have been injured. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic claims a colour revolution is underway and announces a strong state response. Arrests of protesters have been ongoing for days. At some point, you will see the full determination of the state of Serbia. We will use everything we have to restore order, peace and order in our country and we will do that. We will face all external pressures, all those who threaten us, who warn us about what can and can not be done. And so far, we have seen them manage chaos in our country and we will win. Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party launched counter-protests under the slogan Citizens Against Blockades. Officials claim more than 30,000 people joined, representing citizens who are tired of chaos and want a peaceful life. Is there a way out of the political crisis that has been shaking Serbia for nine months? We will see what will happen, but it is a very unpleasant situation because it seems to me that the regime is more and more desperate, that it is using more and more extreme methods, such as arrests and really outrageous accusations, very often false and most often exaggerated. So I think this is a very sensitive moment and I think that it will not be better, at least in the immediate future, in Serbia. In front of the Faculty of Music, Dusan meets with a colleague. For months, the topic has been the same. What next? Although shocked by the footage from the streets and the news of fellow students being arrested, they do not lose hope that change will come. Serbia is not someone's private capital and I want everyone to ask themselves how they will live in this country. I want everyone to have the right and everyone to be able to work and not to have a foreign library. These are some things that I would like to happen and I think they would contribute a lot to a better life in Serbia. The Serbian president currently offers dialogue and for the first time in front of cameras. The students demand more. Free, democratic elections. Anything less, they say, means the struggle for freedom continues. But how that will end up remains to be seen.

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