Other MoA event in Serbia on Sun 24th May 2026

Clashes erupted between groups of protesters and riot police after a huge anti-government rally on Saturday in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, attended by tens of thousands of opponents of the country’s autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.

While the rally at a central square in Belgrade passed peacefully, groups of young assailants later clashed with riot police, throwing flares, rocks, and bottles at police cordons. Police responded with pepper spray as they charged forward to disperse them.

The groups, including apparent soccer hooligans, rolled trash cans into the streets while shield-carrying riot police attempted to surround them. Police parked anti-riot vehicles in a central Belgrade area to block demonstrators from returning, and the violence soon ended. Authorities said 23 people were detained.

Protests have continued to shake Vucic’s government. Earlier on Saturday, crowds of demonstrators streamed into central Belgrade, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts inscribed with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement that organized the gathering. Columns of cars also drove into Belgrade from other Serbian towns earlier in the day.

Vucic has sought to curb the mass demonstrations that have challenged his hard-line rule in the Balkan country. The large turnout on Saturday suggested the dissent remains strong more than a year after protests first began demanding accountability for a train station tragedy in northern Serbia in November 2024 that killed 16 people.