May 23, 2026 / 3:27 PM EDT
/ AP
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Clashes erupted between groups of protesters and riot police after a huge anti-government rally on Saturday in the Serbian capital Belgrade attended by tens of thousands of opponents of the country's autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.While the rally at a central square in Belgrade passed largely peacefully, groups of young demonstrators later split and clashed with riot police after the main gathering, throwing flares, rocks and bottles at police cordons, who responded with pepper spray as they charged forward to disperse them.The demonstrators rolled trash cannisters to the streets as shield-carrying riot police tried to surround them. Police parked anti-riot vehicles in a central Belgrade area to block the demonstrators from returning.
A man throws a cobblestone at riot police as clashes break out during a rally led by Serbia's protesting university students who are pushing for major political changes in the Balkan country run by President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, May. 23, 2026.
