At least 50 people were injured in the northern Serbian town of Vrbas on Tuesday evening after violent clashes broke out between protesters, activists from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and police. Similar confrontations were reported the same night in Backa Palanka, Novi Sad and Belgrade, with tensions centred around SNS premises in each location.

In Vrbas, the unrest followed incidents earlier in the week. Local media reported that as the protest unfolded, stones, bottles and pyrotechnics were thrown towards demonstrators from the direction of the SNS building. Riot police arrived in force but focused on containing the protesters rather than restraining party activists. In Backa Palanka, the gathering was organised in solidarity with a local man who had been beaten over the weekend in nearby Backi Petrovac.

Mass protests in Serbia: clashes erupt between demonstrators, police, and government supporters.

More than 60 civilians and 16 police officers were injured during protests in Belgrade and Novi Sad, authorities said.

The student- and opposition-led protests began after the… pic.twitter.com/RDsGP7IHtF

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Serbian Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic told the national broadcaster on Wednesday morning that in both Vrbas and Backa Palanka there were about 200 protesters and roughly 800 people in or around SNS headquarters. He placed sole responsibility for the violence on the demonstrators, insisting that SNS supporters had remained in front of their own premises and were attacked without provocation. According to him, some protesters carried bats, metal bars and wooden poles, indicating an intent to cause serious clashes. Seventeen police officers were injured in the two towns. Local reports, however, noted that individuals holding batons were among those guarding the party offices.

Tensions spread to other cities. In Novi Sad and Belgrade, people gathered in front of SNS buildings, prompting riot police to intervene with significant force to disperse them. In Novi Sad, witnesses described masked men with batons positioned behind the party headquarters, as well as shots fired into the air before gendarmerie separated opposing groups. A particularly tense moment came when an unidentified man drew a gun outside the building. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic later confirmed he was a Serbian army sergeant major, on duty to protect a specific individual.

In Belgrade, police used tear gas repeatedly, and roads around Slavija Square were closed as protesters attempted to reach the SNS compound known as “Chatsilend”. Clashes led to arrests, including one incident near the Faculty of Law in which a young man allegedly struck a plainclothes police officer, breaking his tooth. Several demonstrators, including students, said they were beaten with batons despite offering no resistance. In Niš, students accused gendarmerie officers of assaulting a colleague from the Faculty of Philosophy, while another man claimed to have been sprayed in the eyes with tear gas during a scuffle.

President Aleksandar Vučić addressed the nation, accusing protesters of trying to provoke “a civil war” and warning there would be “no mercy for thugs and hooligans.” He stated that 64 SNS members had been injured in Novi Sad but made no mention of pyrotechnics or other projectiles allegedly used by party supporters.

The events have been described by foreign media as a major escalation of the months-long anti-government demonstrations in Serbia, with riot police guarding party offices, broken windows in Novi Sad and thousands gathering nationwide. Pro-government outlets presented a sharply different narrative, portraying opposition supporters as aggressors who attacked both citizens and police with firearms, fireworks, flares, stones and other objects, while depicting SNS supporters as peacefully defending their property and political rights.

The protests, largely driven by students, began in November 2024 after the collapse of the canopy at Novi Sad railway station killed 16 people. The station had been officially reopened just four months earlier following a three-year reconstruction. The tragedy sparked public outrage, which has since grown into a broad movement against Vučić’s government.