Serbian police detain 79 people in crackdown on protests

Law enforcement officers try to remove a woman from the street during road blockades organised by students and anti-government demonstrators demanding snap elections and release of arrested protestors, in Belgrade, Serbia, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Hamzagic

BELGRADE (Reuters) -Serbian police detained 79 protesters late on Wednesday in a crackdown on street demonstrators calling for a snap election and an end of the 12-year rule of the President Aleksandar Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party.

Police and protesters clashed in the capital Belgrade and the cities of Novi Sad, Nis and Novi Pazar, the interior ministry said in the statement on Thursday.