At least 100,000 people descended on Belgrade for a mass rally seen as a culmination of months-long protests against Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.
Large crowds of flag-waving protesters clogged the downtown area of the capital on Saturday despite occasional rain, with people hardly able to move.
Following apparent sporadic incidents between protesters and the police, university students – who have been leading the peaceful protests for the past four months – abruptly called for an end to the demonstration, saying they could no longer guarantee safety at the rally.
Most of the protesters dispersed, but thousands remained on the streets as tensions surged.
Police said the crowd reached 107,000 at the peak of the protest. Serbian independent media described the rally as the biggest ever in the country, saying the numbers were much higher. All public transport in Belgrade was cancelled as protesters streamed into the city from various directions.
The rally was part of a nationwide anticorruption movement that erupted after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s north in November, killing 15 people.
Almost daily demonstrations that started in response to the tragedy have shaken Vucic’s firm grip on power in Serbia like never before, in his past 13 years in charge. Many in Serbia blamed the crash on rampant government corruption, negligence and disrespect of construction safety regulations, demanding accountability for the victims.
Before the demonstration, Vucic repeatedly warned of alleged plans for unrest while threatening arrests and harsh sentences for any incidents.
Several reporters from neighbouring Croatia as well as Slovenia have been turned back from Serbia’s border, with the explanation that their presence at the rally “represents a security risk”.
Vucic has rejected earlier proposals for a transitional government that would organise an early election. He has claimed that Western intelligence services were behind the almost daily student-led protests, with the aim to remove him from power. He has presented no evidence for his claims.