Protesters flood Belgrade in one of biggest anti-government rallies | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
July 11, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JULY 11, 2025
Protesters flood Belgrade in one of biggest anti-government rallies

Europe

Reuters
16 March, 2025, 01:05 pm
Last modified: 16 March, 2025, 01:08 pm

Related News

  • Serbia set to get new government amid protests
  • Israel anti-government protests flare after dismissal of top security agency chief
  • Smoke grenades tossed in Serbian parliament, lawmaker suffers stroke
  • Serbian prime minister resigns, after months of anti-corruption protests
  • Kosovo-Romania match abandoned after players walk off pitch following pro-Serbia chants

Protesters flood Belgrade in one of biggest anti-government rallies

Serbia has seen months of anti-government rallies after 15 deaths from a railway station roof collapse triggered accusations of widespread corruption and negligence

Reuters
16 March, 2025, 01:05 pm
Last modified: 16 March, 2025, 01:08 pm
Students and anti-government demonstrators gather in front of the parliament building during a protest, which has become a national movement for change following the deadly November 2024 Novi Sad railway station roof collapse, in Belgrade, Serbia, March 15, 2025. File Photo: REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic
Students and anti-government demonstrators gather in front of the parliament building during a protest, which has become a national movement for change following the deadly November 2024 Novi Sad railway station roof collapse, in Belgrade, Serbia, March 15, 2025. File Photo: REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic

More than 100,000 protesters descended on Serbia's capital Belgrade on Saturday in one of the largest rallies in decades, with students and workers facing riot police and supporters of President Aleksandar Vucic.

Serbia has seen months of anti-government rallies after 15 deaths from a railway station roof collapse triggered accusations of widespread corruption and negligence.

The protests have swelled to include students, teachers and farmers in a major challenge to Vucic, a populist in power for 12 years as prime minister or president.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

"We will not allow you to deprive us of our freedoms," one student said in a series of speeches from a stage.

A security source and witnesses estimated the crowd at well over 100,000 people.

The government denies accusations of graft and incompetence and says Western intelligence agencies are backing a push to destabilise Serbia.

Though the protests have been largely peaceful, police said a car rammed a column of protesters, injuring three people, in a Belgrade suburb, while a group of men attacked and injured a student and university lecture in the centre.

Police said they apprehended 13 people in incidents overnight and early on Saturday, including three men after an attack on pro-Vucic farmers' tractors parked in a ring around Pionirski Park where government supporters have been camping.

FESTIVE MOOD

Across the street from the park, hundreds of veterans from elite military brigades in maroon berets and bikers, both allied with the students, lined up as the march proceeded between the parliament building and nearby Slavija square.

Students established their own security guards, clad in fluorescent yellow vests, between police and protesters.

"Today we will demonstrate our dissent ... to show what we are striving for, a normal state, a state of law, without corruption, lying, media pressures, persecutions," said Aleksa Cvetanovic, a 23 year-old student who has been attending demonstrations since December.

Streets were choked as protesters kept up a festive mood, lighting flares and chanting their slogan "Pump it up."

The students are demanding the release of documents about last year's railway station disaster in the city of Novi Sad, and accountability for those responsible.

Many had travelled hundreds of miles on foot or by bike.

Dozens of Belgrade residents took heaters outdoors for the protesters and offered them hot food. Grandmothers gave students freshly-baked biscuits and pies.

Prosecutors have charged 13 people over the Novi Sad disaster, and the government has announced an anti-corruption campaign. Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and two ministers have also resigned during the protests.

Saturday's protesters also called for a renewed general strike in coming days, though past appeals have failed to galvanise public service workers or many businesses.

Top News / World+Biz / Politics

Serbia / Belgrade / Anti-Government Protests

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
    How tender rules and a lone bidder stall a $2.5b power plant
  • Bangladesh and US hold tariff talks for second day on 9July 2025. Photo: CA Press Wing
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'reach general consensus on some issues' on second day of talks; final round today
  • Photo shows the rescued wild birds. Photo: Courtesy
    50 birds, turtle rescued from illegal sale at Mirpur

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Mohammad Minhaj Uddin/TBS
    SSC, equivalent results: Pass rate drops to 68.45%, GPA-5 also declines
  • In terms of stream of education, girls maintained their excellence as well. Photo: TBS
    SSC 2025: Girls dominate boys by over 5%
  • Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
    Govt vehicle purchase, foreign trip, new building construction banned: Finance ministry
  • Students sit for SSC exam at Motijheel Girls' High School on 10 April 2025. Photo: Mehedi Hasan/TBS
    SSC exam results out: Here's how you can check online and via SMS
  • The overall pass rate across all boards this year, 68.45%, is significantly lower than last year's. Photo: Focus Bangla
    SSC 2025: Rajshahi board records highest pass rate, Barishal lowest
  • Representational image. Photo: Collected
    35% tariff: Bangladesh, US 'agree on most issues' as first day of talks ends

Related News

  • Serbia set to get new government amid protests
  • Israel anti-government protests flare after dismissal of top security agency chief
  • Smoke grenades tossed in Serbian parliament, lawmaker suffers stroke
  • Serbian prime minister resigns, after months of anti-corruption protests
  • Kosovo-Romania match abandoned after players walk off pitch following pro-Serbia chants

Features

Photo: Collected/BBC

What Hitler’s tariff policy misfire can teach the modern world

18h | The Big Picture
Illustration: TBS

Behind closed doors: Why women in Bangladesh stay in abusive marriages

21h | Panorama
Purbachl’s 144-acre Sal forest is an essential part of the area’s biodiversity. Within it, 128 species of plants and 74 species of animals — many of them endangered — have been identified. Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS

A forest saved: Inside the restoration of Purbachal's last Sal grove

21h | Panorama
Photo: Rajib Dhar/TBS

11 July 2024: Riot vehicles, water cannons hit the streets as police crack down on protesters

14h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

India is strengthening ties with Israel

India is strengthening ties with Israel

44m | TBS World
'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

'Hypocrisy' will not continue, Iran tells IAEA

16h | TBS World
OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome

16h | TBS World
Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

Will the title 'Honorable and Excellency' be abolished?

17h | TBS Today
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net