Serbia

Ten suspects are accused of abusing and torturing several people in the garage of a government compound in Belgrade.

Nine active Serbian police officers and one former officer have been arrested over accusations of using excessive force against students last year during protests that culminated in October’s electoral defeat of former President Aleksandar Vucic.

The Serbian Ministry of Interior announced Wednesday’s arrests, alleging that the suspects abused and tortured several people in the garage of a government compound in Belgrade in August 2025.

In a statement, the ministry said the suspects were on duty when they “used force and threats to inflict severe pain and suffering on several injured people, in order to obtain information, intimidate and unlawfully punish them”.

Anticorruption protests began in Serbia after 16 people were killed when the canopy at a railway station in Novi Sad collapsed in November 2024. The collapse was seen as symptomatic of alleged widespread corruption under Vucic, who served as president for 12 years before conceding defeat last month after parliamentary elections.

The ministry has released only the initials of the suspects but said they served in an elite unit. According to state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia, the commander of the Special Antiterrorism Unit, Igor Zmiric, was among the detainees.

Since last month’s vote, the winning student-led protest movement has demanded reforms within state institutions, including the police and intelligence services. Protesters have also called on top officials to resign, accusing them of colluding with Vucic while he was in power.

Hopes that Belgrade would join the European Union have increased since October’s elections as the bloc offered to hold further accession talks if Serbia’s new government strengthens democracy.

In a 2025 report on Serbia, Amnesty International warned that protesters, journalists and civil society organisations “continued to face intimidation, harassment and unlawful surveillance as authorities sought to rein in widespread discontent”.

The rights group said protesters were subjected to excessive force in “multiple cases across the country”.

There’s a celebratory mood in Belgrade, the Serbian capital. For almost two years protest has shaped everyday life as a student-led movement demanding accountability and an end to corruption gathered momentum after a concrete canopy at Novi Sad’s newly renovated railway station collapsed in November 2024, killing 16 people.

Demonstrations grew into a nationwide challenge to the government and finally, last month the student-backed list won an outright majority in parliamentary elections – a dramatic shift in Serbia’s political landscape. Crowds gathered in Slavija Square, and celebrations spilled into the streets and bars. The formation of a new government still lies ahead, but the city feels full of possibility.

One of Europe’s oldest cities, Belgrade sits at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. With a large student population and a thriving creative scene, it has informal, sociable energy: cafe terraces fill during the day, while DJ bars and clubs keep the city moving late into the night. Historic streets, neoclassical and art nouveau buildings sit alongside modernist architecture, former industrial spaces and new waterfront developments.



As founder of Still in Belgrade I’ve spent more than a decade exploring the city’s art, culture and music scene – here are some of my favourite things to do.

What to do

I love walking around Belgrade’s old town and inner-city neighbourhoods. Dorćol is my favourite area. Its historic buildings and former workshops now house independent galleries, speciality coffee shops, lively bars and contemporary restaurants. Graffiti and murals animate its walls, there’s always an exhibition, gig or something happening.

I also enjoy wandering through Kosančićev Venac, stopping for coffee on its cobbled streets. Then there’s Savamala, on the banks of the Sava, with its waterfront restaurants at Beton Hala. Vračar, another historic inner-city neighbourhood, draws me back for its restaurants, elegant old villas and the Nikola Tesla Museum.

For a taste of everyday life, head to the food markets: Zemun Market at Masarikov trg 17, Kalenić Market at Maksima Gorkog 2B, and Palilula Market at Ilije Garašanina 5A. In and around the markets, coffee shops and street-food counters offer everything from roast pork, champagne and artisan bread at Pretop to traditional Serbian dishes such as ćevapi (kebab).

For art and history, start with the National Museum. Its collections span prehistoric finds from Lepenski Vir and the Vinča culture, artefacts from Roman sites across Serbia, and an extensive selection of Serbian and European painting.

Don’t miss Galerija Kula at Cetinjska 15, housed in a tower within the former brewery complex. It showcases local artists and designers, and its shop is worth browsing for striking posters and design objects. The Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCAB) is worth visiting for its architecture alone. A modernist gem designed by Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović, opened in 1965, its rich collection traces the development of Yugoslav modern and contemporary art.

For shopping, I’d recommend Jane Doe, a vintage and design shop offering everything from former Yugoslav labels to high fashion and pieces by local designers. There’s also a tattoo studio.

Tours

For a closer look at Belgrade’s street art, take a walking tour and street art workshop with Ljiljana Radosević. It’s another way into the city’s history, revealing neighbourhood loyalties, political tensions and the humour that runs through everyday life. To explore a different side of the city, join a Yugoslav architecture tour by bike with Still in Belgrade Tours taking in the scale of New Belgrade, where broad boulevards, residential blocks and monumental buildings reflect the ambitions of the socialist era. You can trace the influence of Le Corbusier’s planning principles in the freestanding blocks, generous green spaces and separation of homes, workplaces and traffic.

Where to eat and drink

For traditional comfort food, Stara Hercegovina is the sort of place to arrive hungry and take your time. I usually order čorba, a hearty soup, followed by kolenica (pork knuckle) or pljeskavica, a grilled minced-meat patty, with a šopska salad of tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and grated white cheese. Leave room for tufahija, a walnut-stuffed poached apple, or a knedla, a sweet dumpling.

For a contemporary take on Balkan cooking, try Dragoljub. Familiar regional dishes get a creative twist, with plates made for sharing. There’s also an excellent indoor cocktail bar that gets going in the afternoon.

I love Koordinata, a fine-dining restaurant, next to the National Theatre, which takes a farm-to-table approach. The menu ranges from baked cabbage to river fish, octopus and duck, alongside alcohol-free cocktails and wines from across the Balkans.

Another favourite is Stories, a small, cosy restaurant on Pjarona de Mondezira, beside Kalemegdan Park. The focus is on Georgian cooking, including khinkali – dumplings with fillings such as veal, lamb or cheese and mint – and khachapuri, the wonderfully indulgent cheese-filled bread.

For cocktails and finger food, try the tiny Ćilim bar. It makes some of the best whisky sours and pornstar martinis in the city. Take a seat outside and feel the street vibe unfold. Oliver’s, a wine bar in the old town with a New York feel, is great, too.

Nightlife

Electronic music has been central to Belgrade’s nightlife for more than two decades. This is a city that likes to socialise, and visitors often warm to the locals’ hospitality as much as the music.

One of my current favourites is Esthetic Joys Embassy, with its retro Yugoslav-inspired interiors. A sister venue to a vinyl bar and restaurant in Armenia, it combines Japanese food with DJ sets. Another is BIFE, a cocktail and DJ bar tucked away in a former shopping centre in the city centre. Signature cocktails range from €8 to €10.

For a proper night of dancing, my favourite is Karmakoma. Its programme brings together internationally acclaimed DJs and producers with local talent, spanning techno, house and disco.

Stay

For a base in Dorćol, Pavilion Hotel & Social Club on Dobračina Street has doubles from about €89 a night. For a central base with a history of its own, Hotel Balkan, on the corner of Terazije and Prizrenska Street, dates back to 1860, although the building you see today replaced the original in 1936, with doubles from about €100 a night.

Things to know

Public transport in Belgrade is free, including buses, trams and trolleybuses. There’s no metro, but visitors can combine public transport with walking to explore the city.

Researcher and consultant Dragana Kostica documents the Serbian capital’s art, culture and music scene through her platform, Still in Belgrade

EXPLAINER

Uncertainty remains over key positions after student-led movement deals blow to longtime leader’s political dominance.

A student-led opposition movement has emerged victorious in Serbia’s snap parliamentary election, ending former President Aleksandar Vucic’s long grip on power.

The Student List’s win on Sunday followed nearly two years of youth-led protests triggered by the death of 16 people in a railway station canopy collapse in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.

Demonstrations demanding accountability quickly evolved into a wider political campaign against alleged corruption and capture of democratic institutions. In its electoral programme presented in September, the Student List said fighting corruption and organised crime were among its main priorities. It also pledged to raise living standards, boost employment, improve education, ensure media freedom and the independence of Serbia’s institutions.

After declaring victory on Sunday, the movement also said it would work to improve relations with neighbouring countries following a period of tension during Vucic’s more than decade-long rule.

Here’s what you should know:

What are the latest results?

The Republic Election Commission (RIK) announced on Monday that the Student List had won 52.54 percent of the vote, based on 8,077 processed polling stations out of 8,392.

The figures also showed the United Serbia list, led by Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, had secured 39.29 percent of ballots cast.

Voter turnout stood at 68.78 percent, a record high in more than 30 years, according to RIK data on Sunday.

What’s next?

While the final election result is not yet known, the figures mean that the Student List will be able to form a majority in Serbia’s 250-seat parliament on its own.

The bloc is projected to win 140 seats, well ahead of the 126 mandates required for a majority, while United Serbia is expected to have 103.

The remaining seats are set to go to the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (three); the Albanian political bloc (two); and the Rasim Ljajc-Ljudski and SDA Sandzak lists, with one each.

Who could be the new prime minister?

Unlike United Serbia, which named Vucic as its candidate for prime minister before the election, the Student List made no such announcement during the campaign.

Since its formal creation, the list has avoided highlighting single candidates, eager to emphasise the collective nature of the movement that brought together academics, doctors and workers.

During the campaign, the movement was led by Ilija Srdanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Novi Sad. The cardiologist is now seen as the most likely candidate to become the next prime minister, but it remains unclear who will take over key ministries, including those of internal affairs, finance and justice.

When will the new government be formed?

This depends on when the final election results will be announced and when parliament convenes.

The new National Assembly must be established within 30 days of the final results being announced.

A government must be formed within 90 days after that – but the Student List’s clear majority removes the need for lengthy coalition talks.

What about the president?

Vucic has dominated Serbia’s politics – first as prime minister and then as president – since 2014.

Following his call for the snap parliamentary vote last month and his resignation as president, the post has been held temporarily by Ana Brnabic, the president of the National Assembly.

Brnabic is obliged to call for an extraordinary presidential election which must be held no later than three months after the end of Vucic’s mandate.

Vucic resigned on September 27 , so the deadline to hold a vote is December 27 .

The president of Serbia is elected directly by the citizens, not by the representatives in the assembly, but the post is largely ceremonial.

Aleksandar Vucic, who has shaped Serbia’s political life for more than a decade, has lost snap parliamentary elections to a student-led movement that led protests against him for almost two years.

After a heated race, Vucic conceded defeat to the Student List in Sunday’s elections, which saw voter turnout reach its highest level in more than 30 years.

“It is clear that we have lost these elections,” the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) told supporters after a sample of votes showed his electoral list was expected to win 105 seats in Serbia’s 250-member parliament, compared with 135 to 140 for the Student List.

The student movement emerged after 16 people were killed when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad on November 1, 2024.

The youth-led protests grew into a broader wave of social unrest and evolved into the Student List political platform, which promised to tackle corruption, depoliticise public institutions and restore citizens’ rights.

During the election campaign, the movement was led by Ilija Srdanovic, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad.

Vucic referred to the demonstrators, who included university professors, doctors and workers, as “blockaders” and accused them of seeking to destabilise Serbia.

A former ultranationalist, Vucic cultivated an image of a pragmatic leader who maintained ties with the European Union, Russia and China as well as, increasingly, with Israel in recent years.

Born in Belgrade in 1970, the nearly 2-metre-tall (6.5ft-tall) Vucic graduated from the University of Belgrade’s faculty of law. He entered politics in 1993, joining the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party led by Vojislav Seselj.

His political record during the 1990s was marked by nationalist rhetoric. One of his most remembered statements came in Serbia’s parliament in July 1995, nine days after the Srebrenica genocide: “Kill one Serb, and we will kill 100 Muslims.” Vucic made the comments during a debate on possible NATO strikes against positions held by the Army of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Vucic’s political mentor at the time, Seselj, was sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in prison by the Appeals Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for persecution, deportation and forcible transfer of non-Serbs during the wars in the Balkans in the 1990s.

Aleksandar Seselj, the son of Vojislav Seselj, was on Vucic’s electoral list in Sunday’s elections.

After a split within the Serbian Radical Party, Vucic and Tomislav Nikolic founded the SNS in 2008. The new party sought to move closer to mainstream European politics.

Safeta Bisevac, a Serbian journalist who has long followed Vucic’s political career, believes he was initially less popular than Nikolic, who appeared closer to common citizens.

“Vucic lagged far behind in popularity at the time and was essentially the organiser of the newly formed party,” Bisevac told Al Jazeera.

In 2012, the SNS came to power promising to fight corruption, organised crime and abuses committed under previous governments.

One of the most prominent cases was the December 2012 arrest of businessman Miroslav Miskovic and his son Marko on suspicion of financial irregularities and tax evasion. After years of legal proceedings, both were acquitted and the state paid them compensation.

Bisevac said the results of the fight against corruption remained modest while the authorities expanded their control over institutions, the media and political life.

Vucic served as first deputy prime minister from 2012 to 2014 before ascending to the post of prime minister in 2014. Three years later, he became president of Serbia and won re-election in 2022. His term was due to run until 2027.

Under pressure from the student-led protests, he resigned in September and called early elections. Although the Serbian presidency is constitutionally limited, Vucic has retained a dominant influence over his party and state policy.

“He made many promises and fulfilled few of them, but in the meantime, he established almost complete control over the state apparatus,” Bisevac said.

Economic growth and the debate over living standards

The Serbian economy has expanded significantly since Vucic took Serbia’s political centre stage in 2012. Unemployment dropped from 26 percent to 8 to 9 percent while nominal gross domestic product nearly tripled, reaching about 90 billion euros ($101bn), according to official data cited by the Reuters news agency.

Annual foreign direct investment inflows rose from about 800 million euros ($896m) in 2012 to a record 5.2 billion euros ($5.8bn) in 2024.

A network of modern motorways has also been built.

However, rising wages have not necessarily translated into a proportional improvement in living standards. The rising cost of living and public debt remain important elements of the debate over the government’s economic record.

Political scientist Dusko Radosavljevic said “the students simply gave a voice to the justified anger of citizens.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera about Vucic’s policies, Radosavljevic said the past decade was characterised by “systematic pressure and the destruction of social institutions”.

“State intelligence services have spent less time on their actual duties and more time monitoring political opponents while critical thinking has been pushed out of the public media,” Radosavljevic said.

Instead of running for office themselves, student-led assemblies at the country’s university faculties have chosen 250 candidates to stand in the parliamentary election, with Ilija Srdanović, professor at Novi Sad University, heading the list.

The Student List of candidates for parliament also includes doctors, actors, academics and sports personalities

“These are people that don’t know each other, you have no idea what their political beliefs are, and we now expect them to create a functioning government. So it’s anybody’s guess what happens after they win,” Korać says.

“On the other hand, if Vučić declares victory this evening, probably late in the evening, I don’t think the students will accept that.”

Korać suggests that many former Vučić loyalists in high office could change sides at the last moment, if the students win. A close result, however, with both sides claiming victory, could result in weeks or months of political instability.

The electorate is 6.45 million in a population of 6.53 million, raising concerns about the reliability of the electoral register. Serbs from Kosovo, and dual Serbian citizens from neighbouring Bosnia also have the right to vote.

Additional reporting by André Rhoden-Paul

Polls show populist leader Aleksandar Vucic in a tight race against the anticorruption and anti-authoritarian movement.

Serbians are voting in parliamentary elections amid a mass student protest ⁠movement that seeks to oust longtime populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, who has held power as prime minister and then president for more than a decade.

The snap elections, called by Vucic in September, follow almost two years of student-led demonstrations against perceived corruption ⁠and creeping authoritarianism, triggered by the deaths of 16 people when a train station canopy collapsed in the city of Novi Sad in 2024.

The students have since gained widespread support.

A loss for Vucic ⁠would mark a profound political shift in the Balkan country of some 6 million people, reminiscent of the defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban in April.

But Vucic, who resigned as president in September to run again for prime minister, is a strong incumbent. Many voters thank him for pulling Serbia out of economic obscurity and ‌orchestrating a period of sustained modernisation.

“The Serbian election ⁠is shaping up to be a watershed moment for the country as the Student List mounts the biggest challenge against Vucic yet,” Mario Bikarski, senior Europe analyst at risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft, told the Reuters news agency.

During the campaign, Vucic has promised higher pensions and public sector salaries, investment in state healthcare, and subsidies for young couples. He has balanced closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia’s traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union.

But relations with the EU have frayed under his leadership, with the bloc growing increasingly frustrated over a lack of reforms addressing the judiciary, the rule of law and corruption.

The Student List movement’s agenda focuses on rooting out corruption and improving schooling, while saying little about their international ambitions.

Their roster of 250 largely unfamiliar candidates, including university professors, actors and farmers, is led by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic.

Opinion polls are predicting a tight race.

An Ipsos poll published on Thursday gives Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party 47 percent ⁠of the vote to the students’ 40 percent, though other polls have put the students ahead.

Rights groups and activists say repression has worsened since the deadly train station canopy collapse, which was widely blamed on government corruption and sparked the student demonstrations.

About 150,000 supporters of the student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday.

Vucic and his party have repeatedly denied accusations of repression, corruption and spying on their opponents.

The former president claims the students are funded by foreign agents in Croatia and Montenegro, a charge the students deny.