Hundreds of citizens in Novi Sad took part in a protest march on Thursday evening to mark one year since clashes between demonstrators, supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and police outside the party’s offices.
The protesters gathered near the Banovina building before beginning a march toward Novosadskog sajma Street. The procession passed the SNS offices on Stražilovska Street, which have remained closed for a year.
When the crowd reached the party headquarters, demonstrators stopped, chanted slogans and made noise outside the building. Activists also placed stickers on the premises, including one reading “Square of the Victims of Corruption.”
Among the protesters were student groups, local civic assemblies and veterans. Stands were set up near the gathering where organizers distributed T-shirts, bags, stickers and badges carrying the message “Students Are Winning.”
Representatives of the Novi Sad civic assemblies addressed the crowd before the march continued.
“We are not standing because we have nowhere to go. We are standing because we know what we stand for,” the assemblies said ahead of the protest.
Police were deployed at intersections, while traffic officers monitored the gathering. The protest was reported to be proceeding peacefully.
The demonstration marked the anniversary of the clashes on August 13, 2025, when a confrontation erupted outside SNS offices in Stražilovska Street and later along Bulevar oslobođenja between protesters and SNS supporters, with police and the Gendarmerie intervening.
According to reports from the time, SNS supporters, protected by police and Gendarmerie cordons, fired pyrotechnics toward protesters. Several people were injured during the incidents, including members of the Serbian military police special unit known as the “Cobras” (Kobre).
The presence of the Cobras became one of the most controversial aspects of the incident after one of the unit’s members fired a shot into the air during the confrontation. Former Prime Minister and then-SNS leader Miloš Vučević later acknowledged that the unit had been protecting him and people accompanying him inside the party offices.
The events were followed by arrests and, on August 19 and 20, 2025, blockades of judicial institutions in Novi Sad.
The anniversary protest comes amid continuing student-led and civic demonstrations in Serbia, with protesters continuing to demand political accountability and changes to the country’s institutions.
