Impressive images from Serbia. Thousands of people asked for anticipated elections on the streets of Belgrade
Protest in Belgrade, Monday, September 1, 2025. Credit: Darko Vojinovic / AP / Profimedia
Thousands of people participated in a march in the capital of Serbia on Monday, in the most recent series of demonstrations denouncing corruption and which increased pressure on President Aleksandar Vucic, AFP reports.
The manifestation was peacefully carried out, in silence, as opposed to those in mid -August, when the protests degenerated into violence because of what the demonstrations described as harsh tactics of the police and the loyal to the government.
Serbia was constantly confronted with protests after the tragedy that took place in November Novi Sad, where the roof of the station collapsed, and 16 people died. The event has quickly become a symbol of corruption rooted in the Balkan country, writes AFP.
Although the wave of protests led to the prime minister's resignation and the collapse of his government, Vucic remained in office, in the leadership of an administration. So far, the president of the country has rejected the request of protesters to organize early elections and claim that demonstrations are part of a foreign plot.
“Ten months represents a huge period of time and nothing has changed. Not even one thing. No person was held accountable” for the collapse of the station, said for AFP Lazar, 18 years old, the student of a Belgrade high school.
At the protest to which he took part, no slogans were scored, the manifestation being marked by a symbolic silence in the memory of the victims.
“We remember the tragedy, we ask for responsibility, we fight for a better country. We do not look elsewhere. Together until the end,” the students wrote on Instagram.
The protesters organized commemorative marches in the cities of Kragujevac and Novi Sad.
The police estimate that, from the beginning of the protest wave, about 23,000 meetings of different sizes have been held. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the largest of the demonstrations.
Vucic's ruling party, which has been in power since 2012, began to organize, in response, its own rallies in the country.
The police said that over 100,000 people participated in Sunday's demonstrations. AFP could not check the number.
