(28 Jun 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia – 28 June 2025
1. Various aerials of students protesting
2. Various of demonstrators on the streets waving flags, blowing whistles and honking horns
3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Tanja Brkljac, protester:
"We expect (Vucic) to finally call the elections, to face the people. It’s enough, 13 years is enough.”
4. Wide of demonstrators outside building
5. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Darko Kovacevic, protester:
"We are here today because we cannot take it any more. This has been going on for too long, we are mired in corruption, evil. I think it is time to finally cut all this off.“
6. Various of demonstrators on the street
7. Various aerials of pro-government demonstration of veterans in front of parliament
8. Mid of veterans in front of parliament
9. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Dobrica Kodzic, veteran and government supporter:
"We are real fighters and we came here to support the state. These protests that’s been happening are no good at all. We are against that.”
10. Government supporters in front of parliament
11. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Dragoljub Markovic, government supporter:
"This is to be or not to be. To be or not to be. We came here to support Aleksandar Vucic and the government, and we won’t give up Serbia.”
12. Various of pro-government demonstration
13. Various aerials of demonstration
STORYLINE:
Tens of thousands of opponents of Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic rallied on Saturday in Serbia’s capital Belgrade, backing up their demand for an early parliamentary election after nearly eight months of protests that have rattled his firm grip on power in the Balkan country.
Tensions have soared before the protest in Belgrade, which has been organized by Serbia’s university students, a key force behind nationwide anti-corruption demonstrations that started after a renovated rail station canopy collapsed, killing 16 people on Nov. 1.
Many blamed the concrete roof crash on rampant government corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects, leading to recurring mass protests.
Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have repeatedly refused the demand for an early vote and accused protesters of planning to spur violence on orders from abroad, which they didn’t specify.
Vucic’s authorities have launched a crackdown on Serbia’s striking universities and other opponents, while increasing pressure on independent media as they tried to curb the demonstrations.
The massive showing for Saturday’s anti-Vucic rally, however, suggested that the resolve persists despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.
Hours before the student-led rally, Vucic’s party bused in scores of its own supporters to Belgrade from other parts of the country, many wearing T-shirts reading: “We won’t give up Serbia.”
They were joining a camp of Vucic’s loyalists in central Belgrade where they have been staying in tents since mid-March.
Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections are due in 2027.
Vucic, a former extreme nationalist, has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power more than a decade ago.
Though he formally says he wants Serbia to join the European Union, critics say Vucic has stifled democratic freedoms as he strengthened ties with Russia and China.
AP video by Nenad Nesic and Almir Alic
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