Serbian riot police fire tear gas at anti-government protesters
The major rally in Belgrade against Serbia's populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, was called to back the demand for an early parliamentary election.
The protest, attended by tens of thousands of people, was held after nearly eight months of persistent demonstrations led by Serbia's university students that have rattled Mr Vucic's firm grip on power in the Balkan country.
The huge crowd chanted 'We want elections!' as they filled the capital's central Slavija Square and several blocks around it, with many unable to reach the venue.
Tensions were high before and during the gathering. Riot police were deployed around government buildings and close to a camp of Mr Vucic's loyalists in central Belgrade.
Skirmishes erupted between riot officers and groups of protesters near the camp.
Students gave speeches to the crowd. One, who didn't give her name, said: 'Elections are a clear way out of the social crisis caused by the deeds of the government, which is undoubtedly against the interests of their own people.
'Today, on June 28 2025, we declare the current authorities illegitimate.'
At the end of the official part of the rally, students told the crowd to 'take freedom into your own hands.'
University students have been a key force behind nationwide anti-corruption demonstrations that started after a renovated rail station canopy collapsed, killing 16 people on November 1 2024.
Many blamed the concrete roof crash on rampant government corruption and negligence in state infrastructure projects, leading to recurring mass protests.
'We are here today because we cannot take it any more,' Darko Kovacevic said. 'This has been going on for too long. We are mired in corruption.'
Mr 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.
The president'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.
While numbers have shrunk in recent weeks, the massive showing for Saturday's anti-Vucic rally suggested that the resolve persists, despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.
Serbian police, which is firmly controlled by Mr Vucic's government, said that 36,000 people were present at the start of the protest on Saturday.
Saturday marks St Vitus Day, a religious holiday and the date when Serbs mark a 14th-century battle against Ottoman Turks in Kosovo that was the start of hundreds of years of Turkish rule, holding symbolic importance.
In their speeches, some of the speakers at the student rally on Saturday evoked the theme, which was also used to fuel Serbian nationalism in the 1990s, which later led to the incitement of ethnic wars following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
Hours before the student-led rally, Mr Vucic's party bused in scores of its own supporters to Belgrade from other parts of the country, many wearing T-shirts with slogans including: 'We won't give up Serbia'.
They were joining a camp of Mr Vucic's loyalists in central Belgrade, where they have been staying in tents since mid-March.
In a show of business as usual, Mr Vucic handed out presidential awards in the capital to people he deemed worthy, including artists and journalists.
'People need not worry — the state will be defended and thugs brought to justice,' Mr Vucic told reporters on Saturday.
Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections are due in 2027.
Earlier this week, police arrested several people accused of allegedly plotting to overthrow the government and banned entry into the country, without explanation, to several people from Croatia and a theatre director from Montenegro.
Serbia's railway company halted train service over an alleged bomb threat, in what critics said was an apparent bid to prevent people from travelling to Belgrade for the rally.
Authorities made similar moves back in March, before what was the biggest ever anti-government protest in the Balkan country, which drew hundreds of thousands of people. Mr Vucic's loyalists then set up a camp in a park outside his office, which still stands.
The otherwise peaceful gathering on March 15 came to an abrupt end when part of the crowd suddenly scattered in panic, triggering allegations that authorities used a sonic weapon against peaceful protesters — an accusation officials have denied.
Mr 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 he has stifled democratic freedoms as he strengthened ties with Russia and China.
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NBC News
7 hours ago
- NBC News
Zohran Mamdani says mayors shouldn't 'police speech' when asked to condemn 'globalize the intifada' slogan
Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive Democratic nominee in New York City's mayoral race, on Sunday again sidestepped an opportunity to condemn the phrase "globalize the intifada," saying that mayors shouldn't "police speech." "That's not language that I use," Mamdani said when asked if he condemns the phrase, which is widely viewed by Jewish groups as offensive and anti-semitic, on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "The language that I use and the language that I will continue to use to lead the city is that which speaks clearly to my intent, which is an intent grounded in a belief in universal human rights." Mamdani added, "Ultimately, that's what is the foundation of so much of my politics, the belief that freedom and justice and safety are things that have meaning, have to be applied to all people, and that includes Israelis and Palestinians." 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"I explained why Jewish New Yorkers feel unsafe in the City and that, as he continues this campaign, he must not only condemn anti-Jewish hate and calls for violence, but make clear that as Mayor he would take proactive steps to protect all New Yorkers and make us secure," he said. 'I appreciate Zohran's willingness to reach out to me, to engage, and to listen, and I look forward to continuing the dialogue about our mutual desire to move this City in a positive direction," Goldman added. Mandani on Sunday also addressed President Donald Trump's comments this week, which included Trump calling the presumptive Democratic mayoral nominee a "communist." "I can't believe that's happening. That's a terrible thing for our country, by the way. He's a communist," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. "We're going to go to a communistic- so that's so bad for New York, but the rest of the country is revolting against it." On Sunday, Mamdani clarified that "I am not" a communist. " I have already had to start to get used to, get used to the fact that the president will talk about how I look, how I sound, where I'm from, who I am, ultimately, because he wants to distract from what I'm fighting for, and I'm fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower, that he has since then betrayed," Mamdani added.
Spectator
7 hours ago
- Spectator
Trump cannot be a fascist
The global left and their many friends in the media are insisting with increasing hysteria that Donald Trump is imposing fascism on America. Their apocalyptical narrative is as simple as it is false: President Trump has begun the transformation of the USA into a fascist state. But the feverish intensity with which this tall story is told cannot conceal its mendacity. Trump has not, as fascists do, created blackshirt hit squads to terrorise and torture opponents, nor courts to jail them without just cause. And no rational observer believes his aim is to replace political parties with a one-party cult, or democracy with dictatorship. But above all, perhaps, the story is false because, regardless of what you were taught, and are told, fascism is a far-left, not far-right, phenomenon. Whatever else he may be, the Donald is not left-wing, unless you count his mission to protect the American working class from the negative aspects of globalisation. But for the left and their intellectual minders in command of the citadels of our culture, only their truth counts. Yet the 'proof' they offer of Trump's alleged fascism is risible. It includes his highly popular crackdown on illegal immigrants and his recent deployment of troops in Los Angeles after days of often riotous demos against that crackdown. It even includes his decision to hold a military parade in Washington DC on 14th June to mark the US army's 250th anniversary, and his 79th birthday. This, apparently, was a provocative display of – to use a new left-wing buzz-word – his 'militarisation' of America. To ram home the point, there were anti-Trump demos across America 'in defence of democracy' to coincide with the parade. As one protester explained to CBS: 'We need to show there are more Americans fighting this fascism than supporting it.' Progressive intellectuals, meanwhile, queue up to leap on board the Trump's-a-fascist bandwagon. 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They also include 'obsession' with higher birth rates and 'elevation' of the heterosexual family, but these are just as characteristic of Catholicism and communism as they are of fascism. Number 11, 'extreme nationalism', might seem to the untrained eye to be a characteristic of fascism but as George Orwell, a left-wing patriot who despised communists, especially middle-class English ones, pointed out in his 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism, Soviet Russia was as nationalist as any fascist regime. As for number 15, 'persecution of particular racial groups': which dictatorship isn't guilty of that? Yet during the often violent recent LA protests, California's Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom called Trump 'a dictator' on X, and announced ominously in a state television address: 'Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.' 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A quick look at Italian fascism and what it actually was, shows just how ridiculous it is to call Trump a fascist. Mussolini, the rising star of revolutionary socialism in Italy and editor of its party newspaper Avanti!, founded the fascist movement in 1919 as a left-wing revolutionary alternative to socialism. The first world war had forced him to accept that people are more loyal to country than class. He thus replaced the sacred Marxist creed of international socialism with national socialism which he called fascism. While the fascists did not abolish private property, they did set up the Corporate State – the so-called Third Way – by which the State jointly managed each major sector of the economy. The fascist class war was not between rich and poor but parasites and producers. The fascist state dominates the life of the individual both at work and outside Mussolini desired a totalitarian dictatorship with everything inside the state – nothing outside – not even the minds of the masses. To make this work, fascism had to become a religious cult complete with a nationwide congregation of the faithful, and led by the Duce, who would be, if not its Messiah, at least its Pope. Faith was Mussolini's watchword, and his bible was La Psychologie des Foules by Gustave Le Bon rather than Marx's Communist Manifesto. The 20th century would be the era of the crowd, wrote Le Bon, the sub-conscious crowd, irrational and tyrannical but impotent, unless led by a charismatic dictator in whom it had faith. The 1932 Dottrina del Fascismo, the nearest thing to a fascist manifesto, says: 'The fascist conception of life is a religious one' that aims to create 'a spiritual society'. Fascism 'accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with those of the state.' The state is 'all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist… Thus understood, fascism, is totalitarian.' In each town, the fascists built the party headquarters in the main piazza, complete with a belltower to summon the faithful, often opposite a real church – and always uneasily. Despite making temporal peace with the Vatican in 1929, fascism remained a rival of the Catholic Church in the battle for control of the minds, if not the souls, of Italians. But the Duce was not Jesus, nor even Pope. All this made fascism completely different from the Anglo-American, conservative 'bourgeois' right of which Trump is a part. As did its credo that the state is the solution, not the problem, whereas for conservatives the opposite is the case. The fascist state dominates the life of the individual both at work and outside. In the end, Mussolini helped cause catastrophic damage to Italy and Europe. But throughout the 1920s, and much of the 1930s, fascism was hugely admired across the political divide, even by legendary left-wing icons such as Mahatma Gandhi and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But the communist left and their fellow travellers in the West became desperate to distance themselves from their fascist sibling, especially after the devastation of the second world war, above all caused by the Nazi version of fascism. Their relentless propaganda successfully branded fascism as the paid creature and agent of capitalism – and thus 'far right'. In reality, it never was. To the bitter end, Mussolini remained a socialist at heart. He even called the puppet regime the Germans allowed him to run in the north of Italy from 1943-45 the Repubblica Sociale Italiana. In April 1945, when communist partisans executed him and his mistress Clara Petacci after their capture at Lake Como, those with him included his old friend Nicola Bombacci, a founder of the Italian communist party and once a member of the Soviet Comintern, who had become his closest adviser. Bombacci's last words before a firing squad shot him dead by the lake were: 'Viva Mussolini! Viva il socialismo!' I'd love to ask Trump's accusers: 'Given the facts, how can you sit there and tell us the Donald is the Duce, let alone the Führer? Surely you on left are a far closer fit, aren't you?'
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Palestine Action documentary makers fear being criminalised under anti-terror laws
The makers of an award-winning documentary about Palestine Action say they fear they will be criminalised if they continue distributing the work after the group is banned under anti-terror laws. The online release of To Kill a War Machine was brought forward to this week after it emerged that the Home Office was going to proscribe the protest group, which takes direct action against Israeli arms companies in the UK. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced plans on Monday days after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and spray-painted two military planes red. A draft of a proscription order against Palestine Action will be presented to parliament on Monday. If passed, the ban would become law, making it illegal to become a member of the group or invite support for it, with penalties of up to 14 years in prison. Since Tuesday, the documentary about their activities has been downloaded by people all over the world, but its directors have been scrambling to take legal advice and fear they will end up being in breach of counter-terror laws if they continue distributing it. Showings of the film have been lined up across Britain in the coming days and weeks – from gatherings in homes through to screenings at cinemas – but there are now doubts about what proscription will mean for this too. Its London-based directors, Hannan Majid and Richard York, said they were concerned that Britain could end up being the only country in the world where people would not be able to see the film. 'We've operated around the world and have a lot of experience of regimes telling us what we can and can't do. We've had authorities in Bangladesh telling us we shouldn't even be editing footage of garment workers and activists advocating for their rights, and we've been followed by the police in Cambodia, but we have never encountered anything like this in Britain,' said Majid. He and York have been working together since 2006 through their production company, Rainbow Collective, on documentaries that focus on human rights and have collaborated with organisations including Amnesty International. To Kill a War Machine was the product of more than six months of work and was made independently of Palestine Action, while using real-time bodycam and phone footage that the group had put into the public domain. Activists are shown smashing and occupying weapons factories in the UK and explaining their motivation for actions they view as legitimate to take in the face of alleged war crimes in Gaza. There are interviews with two activists from Palestine Action, Sohail Sultan and Joe Irving, both of whom were acquitted of charges of causing criminal damage. However, the move to proscribe Palestine Action means there are now question marks over the documentary and events including a London premiere on 18 July. 'We set out to make this film in a completely legitimate and legal manner, as we have done with other films. It's been certified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and it is good to go but now we are being advised that the curtailing of Palestine Action could have a major knock-on effect for us as it could become not only illegal for others to voice support for them but also for us, as film-makers, to distribute this film,' said York. 'People are still excited and there has been a tremendous outpouring of support on social media. Hopefully we can still go ahead with much of our plans, but we have had to rush things forward and do the digital release this week rather than waiting for September and try to build on the awards we have already picked up. That all changed on Monday night and there has been a spike as soon as we put it online,' said Majid. The film-makers are having discussions with distributors in the UK and the US but are alive to the risks. 'On the basis of some of our legal advice, we may not even be able to distribute it in other countries and territories if the film is seen as being somehow in support of a group which is proscribed. We are still hoping to be able to show it in cinemas within the law,' said York. They are also considering whether they will have to withdraw submissions for a range of international film festivals. It is part of the Zanzibar international film festival this week.
