Protests in Serbia: government provocations, escalation of violence

In fresh days, there has been a crucial escalation of force during anti-government protests in Serbia for almost 10 months. Mass manifestations broke out after the fresh Sad station's construction disaster, and then turned into a nationwide revolt against the power of Aleksandar Vučic. On August 12, in the towns of Vrbas and Bačka Palanka, the participants of the demonstrations were attacked by, among others, rac, stones and bottles by aggressive hooligans associated with power. These events became an impulse in the following days to violent clashes between both parties in fresh Sada, Valjeva, Belgrade, Kragujevac, Niszu and Čačaku, among others. In any cases police and gendarmerie act passively towards demonstrators and pro-government militants, in others they forcefully suppress protests. Nearly a 100 demonstrators and respective twelve police officers were injured in the clashes. The biggest confrontations took place in front of local ruling office in the country of the Serbian Progressive organization (SNS), in Valjeva there was an arson of its office.

The increase in aggression on the part of the authorities is the consequence of increasingly violent efforts by the authorities to pacify protests that have continued since last year. The escalation of ruling force has besides led to radicalisation of the demands of demonstrators frustrated by the fact that power rejects the anticipation of setting up early elections.

Comment

• Attacks on peaceful manifestations show the expanding determination of the authorities to pacify and discredit the protest movement. Pro-government militants deliberately provoke to legitimize the communicative of demonstrators as "terrorists" seeking to overthrow the constitutional order. The attempts of the government camp to present protests as a "colour revolution" inspired from outside have not resulted. According to CRTA research, most citizens of Serbia do not believe in conspiracy theories of the authorities (54% of respondents reject the communicative about the “colour revolution”). Provocations against demonstrators are designed to change public opinion, due to the fact that –according to CRTAas many as 64% of citizens support protests and nearly 60% declare assurance in their participants.
• The clashes on the Serbian streets are besides an expression of the increasing desperation of protesters. The demonstrations that have been underway since November 2024 have been peaceful to date, but with the increase of provocations from pro-government militants, the demonstrators began responding to them. Despite the immense number of protesters, students failed to implement their most crucial demands, specified as publication by the authorities of full documentation of the station's renovation in Nowy Sada or settlement of the guilty construction disaster (See Students vs. the strategy – protest strategies in Serbia). The escalation of force in the streets becomes an excuse for president Vu's announcementčicia repression. The prosecution, controlled by the authorities, has announced the usage of all available powers in relation to groups ‘promoting anarchy in Serbia’. Therefore, the real script seems to be an even greater increase in aggression combined with more frequent provocations from pro-government demonstrators.
• In view of the decline in support, president Vučić is delaying the announcement of early parliamentary elections, as demanded by the protesters. So far, votes in Serbia have been organised in terms of time favourable to this controlling SNS organization policy. Although Vučić had already declared in May that early elections would take place, they were inactive not scheduled. This is most likely due to the calculation that delaying them in time will let him to silence the protests, discredit the demonstrators and keep control of the state. According to investigation from the CRTA centre, all second individual in the country assesses the President's actions negatively, and 51% of respondents are dissatisfied with the government's work. Removing Vučić and his organization from power will nevertheless be a hard task, as the president inactive controls the media and many state institutions.