Tensions in Serbia have started to spill over into the national and local parliaments as the protests following the Novi Sad tragedy enter the fifth month. The most visible incident this week occurred in the National Assembly on 4 March, when the opposition threw smoke bombs and used pepper spray in the plenary hall. The scenes from the session have been widely reported around the world.
According to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), three of its MPs were hurt in the incidents on Tuesday. No official information has been provided on their health status, but it appears that, as of 6 March, only one of the MPs is in hospital. The ruling party claims that this MP suffered a stroke.
The session of the parliament on Tuesday was the first one since 27 November 2024. The student protests, which led to some of the largest gatherings in the history of Serbia, broke out only days later.
As of the beginning of March, the universities across Serbia are still in a blockade. The students are sticking to their four demands, formulated in December, the first of which is the release of the entire documentation on the reconstruction of the collapsed railway station in Novi Sad.
On 5 March, the expert group established by the University of Belgrade published a report on the fulfillment of the first three out of four student demands, concluding that the documentation has still not been released in its entirety. Following massive protests in the city of Niš on 1 March, students invited the citizens for a mass protest in Belgrade on 15 March.
Multiple social groups have organised parallel protests since the student-led protests began. This week, the focus has mostly been on teachers, who have suspended lectures at many schools, especially high schools, to join the protests since December. The Ministry of Education decided this week that the salaries of these teachers will be reduced, a move condemned by the University of Belgrade as a violation of the law.
Incidents in many local parliaments
Over the past weeks, the first sessions of multiple local parliaments since the beginning of the student protests took place. In several locations, tensions broke out as the opposition and its supporters attempted to block the sessions, citing various causes of discontent with the ruling coalition.
Virtually all cities and municipalities of Serbia are ruled by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and its coalition partners. Opposition parties and groups are present to various extents in local parliaments following last year’s controversial local elections.
Session of the local parliament in the capital of Belgrade on 6 March saw a clash between protesters and the police in front of the building, which was heavily guarded by the private security hired by the City Assembly. At least five activists were arrested. Opposition councillors stood in front of the chairman throughout the session and sang the national anthem of Serbia.
Još jedan snimak tuče ispred Skupštine pic.twitter.com/jeEV1EqxyI
— TV N1 Beograd (@n1srbija) March 6, 2025
One of the most visible episodes of the heightened tensions in recent weeks occurred in the city of Kraljevo, where opposition councillors demanded that the SNS mayor resign after comparing the students to ustashas, a World War II Croatian fascist organisation.
After the mayor refused to resign, the opposition temporarily blocked the session of the local parliament and the citizens threw eggs on the mayor on several occasions since.
In Novi Sad, a new mayor was elected on 24 February, after his predecessor resigned following a beating of students by armed thugs who were supposedly guarding SNS headquarters in late January. A large contingent of police blocked the entrance to the City Assembly, in front of which protesting citizens gathered. Opposition councillors refused to take part in the session, after being told that they can only enter under tight police escort.
Opposition has attempted to disrupt sessions in other locations as well in recent weeks, including the cities of Užice, Zaječar and Valjevo.
Culmination in the National Assembly
Opposition MPs disrupted the session on 4 March by throwing gas bombs and pepper spray. They also threw eggs at the representatives of the government in a nod to the protests in Kraljevo.
At one point, MP Radomir Lazović from the Green-Left Front activated the fire extinguisher in the hall. There were physical altercations between the ruling and opposition MPs, though nobody was seriously hurt in them.
Nevertheless, the Speaker of the Assembly Ana Brnabić refused to order a pause and continued the session as if nothing was happening. Opposition made noise using whistles and other equipment and tried to disrupt the session until its conclusion on Tuesday. Most opposition MPs did not return to the session on Wednesday and Thursday.
This was the second consecutive time that the opposition tried to disrupt the work of the Serbian parliament, causing the session to descend into chaos. The last time it did so was in November 2024, when the ruling majority rammed the state budget for 2025 and a series of other laws through with practically no discussion, prompting several complaints to the Constitutional Court.
From 27 November 2024 to 4 March 2025, there were no sessions of the national parliament due to the decision of the ruling majority not to call it. In the meantime, on 28 January, Prime Minister Miloš Vučević announced his resignation after an incident in Novi Sad in which a student was seriously hurt by men connected to SNS.
However, Vučević’s resignation will not become official until the parliament confirms it. The parliament did not meet for five weeks after the announcement of the resignation and the ruling majority decided to first discuss another series of legal acts submitted by Vučević’s government after he had announced his resignation and only then confirm it.
Opposition strongly opposed this decision, arguing that the only point on the agenda should be the amendments to the Law on Higher Education, which fulfill the student demand related to university financing. When the majority refused this demand, the opposition started the disruption of the parliament’s work.
Na redovnom prolećnom zasedanju Skupštine Srbije došlo je do incidenata – tuče, bačenih dimnih bombi, bakljade… Dve poslanice SNS povređene, a jednoj koja je trudn je pozlilo. Na dnevnom redu sednice trebalo je da budu 62 tačke, među kojima su izmene Zakona o visokom… pic.twitter.com/Kn83cg11nc
— TV N1 Beograd (@n1srbija) March 4, 2025
Speaking at a press conference on 5 March, MP Radomir Lazović of the Green-Left Front justified opposition’s action with the refusal to “pretend that everything is normal, in a situation that is completely abnormal”.
“We do not want the parliament to look like it did yesterday, but we also do not wish for 15 people to be killed (in Novi Sad) because of SNS corruption and that nobody is responsible… I believe the message has been sent and I cannot exclude that similar or the same actions will be repeated in the future”, Lazović said.
While the government and the prosecution announced potential legal consequences for these activities, it still remains unclear what the fallout will be.
Leader of the conservative New Democratic Party of Serbia Miloš Jovanović, in a statement for N1 on Wednesday, said that he did not expect to be arrested for his actions on 4 March, because this is a “cheap dramatization” of Aleksandar Vučić.
Ruling party labels opposition as “terrorists”, EU condemns violence in the parliament
The ruling party strongly attacked the opposition following the events on Tuesday. In a television appearance, President Aleksandar Vučić condemned the “hooligan” behaviour of the opposition MPs and asked for their criminal responsibility.
He added that the authorities would soon celebrate “the victory against the dirtiest colour revolution that somebody has tried to carry out in a sovereign, independent and a free country”. Vučić has been describing the ongoing protests as an attempted “colour revolution” for weeks.
During the session, Speaker of the Assembly Ana Brnabić called the opposition “bullies, haters and a terrorist gang”. She likened them to Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, who performed similar activities when he was in opposition.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos issued a statement on 5 March, reacting to the Tuesday’s events.
“We are very concerned by the disruptions of parliamentary work and the violence in the Serbian parliament. The parliament must be the place for democratic debate in the interest of all citizens, and must fully play its role”, Kos wrote on X.
She added that recent developments in Serbia targeting civil society organisations are very worrying.
“We have been consistently calling for de-escalation of tensions, by establishing conditions for an inclusive dialogue involving all stakeholders, including political actors, institutions and members of civil society to address reforms necessary for Serbia’s EU future”, Marta Kos wrote.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán also issued a statement on X in support of Aleksandar Vučić.
“After losing Washington to the patriots, globalist-liberal forces retreated to Brussels, and set their sights on Serbia, Slovakia, and Hungary. Today’s chaos in the Serbian Parliament – smoke bombs, violence, and obstruction – shows how far they’re willing to go to destabilise sovereign nations. We cannot allow this to continue”, Orbán wrote.