Reuters. Riot police blocked anti-government protesters near the Serbian parliament building on Wednesday (August 13) as they approached the area where supporters of President Aleksandar Vucic have been camping since March.
Frequent protests against Vucic's administration have occurred across the country for months, sparked by the November 2024 collapse of a roof at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad, in which 16 people were killed.
On his Instagram account, Vucic, a former ultranationalist who converted to the cause of European Union membership in 2008, published a video showing him sitting with his supporters in front of the parliament.
The anti-government protesters have blamed corruption for the Novi Sad roof collapse and have demanded early elections that they hope would remove Vucic and his SNS party from power after 13 years.
They have accused Vucic and his allies of ties to organised crime, violence against rivals and curbing media freedoms.
Vucic has denied the accusations.
On Wednesday evening, student activists called on supporters to protest in front of SNS offices in major cities across Serbia, including Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Cacak and Nis, after several protesters were injured in clashes with SNS supporters in the town of Vrbas on Tuesday (August 12) evening.
