After an hours-long ordeal, his assailants freed him, bruised and bloodied."I feared for my life. I had no idea what they were planning to do with me," Voja, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told AFP.Weeks later, he is still visibly shaken when recounting the April 29 incident, just one report in a mounting pattern of violence against people connected to Serbia's long-running protest movement.But unlike many other attacks, Voja said his captors made no attempt to hide their faces -- and had allegedly emerged from a van emblazoned with the campaign slogan of the ruling party of President Aleksandar Vucic.'Ready for violence'For more than a year, student-led protests have swept across Serbia, with some rallies drawing crowds unseen since demonstrations toppled strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
Protesters hold a fence as police use tear gas and stun grenades to disperse anti-government demonstrators in the Serbian city of Novi Sad © STRINGER / AFP
Demands for a transparent investigation into a railway station canopy collapse in November 2024, which killed 16 people, have snowballed into a push for early elections, in a direct challenge to Vucic.As the largely peaceful demonstrations grew, groups of young men -- largely dressed in black and wearing masks -- increasingly targeted anti-government gatherings.During a series of demonstrations last year, protesters claimed the police shielded groups of masked men, some armed with batons and fireworks, and violently suppressed the anti-government side.Council of Europe observers also witnessed the "threatening" presence of large groups of men, several masked, outside polling stations during local elections that were marred by violence earlier this year.
