(15 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia – 15 March 2025
1. Top shot of the Serbia parliament building
2. Wide of bikers parked on the street in front of parliament building
3. Various people arriving over bridge
4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Milenko Kovacevic, protester:
”I expect that this will shake the authority, and that (President Aleksandar) Vucic will realize that the people are no longer for him.”
5. Various people arriving over bridge
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Mladen Knezevic, protester:
”I think people are very angry and that this will escalate, I am not talking about students, but people did not come here today to go for a walk. I think everyone has had enough. Unfortunately, that’s the way it is. I would not want that to happen, but I doubt it will pass peacefully, because the other side does not want peace.”
7. Top shot of parliament building
STORYLINE:
A deafening sound of whistles and vuvuzelas echoed throughout downtown Belgrade on Saturday as Serbia’s capital geared up for a major rally against populist President Aleksandar Vučić and his government.
Police said they arrested a man who rammed his car into protesters in a Belgrade suburb, injuring three people.
Ahead of the demonstration, Vučić repeatedly warned of alleged plans for unrest while threatening arrests and harsh sentences for any incidents.
In an apparent effort to prevent people from attending the rally, Belgrade city transport canceled services on Saturday while huge columns of cars jammed the roads leading into the capital.
On Friday evening, tens of thousands of people staged a welcome for the students who have been marching or cycling for days from across Serbia toward Belgrade for the main rally on Saturday afternoon.
From early morning, people started assembling in various parts of the city, preparing to march toward the center.
Fueling fears of clashes, Vučić’s supporters have been camping in central Belgrade in front of his headquarters.
Protesting students have led the nationwide anti-graft movement, which started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station and killed 15 people in Serbia’s north on Nov. 1.
Many in Serbia blamed the crash on rampant government corruption, negligence and disrespect of construction safety regulations.
Vučić has been claiming that Western intelligence services were behind almost daily student-led protests with an aim to oust him from power.
The huge crowds are seen as a culmination of almost daily anti-corruption protests that have posed the biggest challenge to Vučić’s 13-year firm grip on power in Serbia.
AP video shot by Nenad Nesic, Eldar Emric, Almir Alic
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