Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused students who participated in the blockade of making “a direct call to citizens for civil conflict and attacks on the police” at the end of the protest in Slavia on June 28, RSE reported.

At a joint press conference with Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, he called on the competent prosecutors to “do their job” and not “pretend to be incompetent and naive.”

He congratulated the police “for their professional conduct and willingness to neutralize the attackers with minimal use of force.”

“Of course, there will be many more arrests for attacks on the police. This is not the end. The other individuals have been identified. The Security and Information Agency is also working on this issue,” Vučić said.

During the police intervention following the student protest in Slavia Square on June 28, 77 people were detained and 48 police officers were injured, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic announced on Sunday, June 29.

Dacic said that the first clashes between some of the protesters and the police began at 9:42 p.m. at the corner of Knez Milosa and Krunska streets.

“During the police intervention, 48 police officers were injured—38 members of the gendarmerie, two members of the brigade, seven police officers from the police intervention units, and one police officer involved in operational security,” Dacic said.

According to him, one of the police officers suffered serious head injuries.

Seventy-seven people were taken from the rally to police stations and 38 were detained, Dacic said.

“Criminal charges will be brought against 35 people, and 26 people will be charged with minor offenses,” Dacic added.

According to official data, 22 people were taken to medical facilities, two of them with serious injuries.

“One person has been detained, while another has been diagnosed with a fractured left wrist and has been discharged for treatment at home,” Dacic said.

Some protesters and police clashed in central Belgrade after the official end of the student protest in Slavia Square on June 28.

Police said at least six of its officers and two civilians were injured in the unrest.

According to preliminary estimates by the Public Assembly Archive, 140,000 people gathered at the “See you on St. Vitus Day” protest, while the Ministry of the Interior put the number at 36,000.

The students are demanding early parliamentary elections and the removal of the camp in the city center, which was built by students opposing the blockade of faculties organized by students in protest against the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of a canopy in Novi Sad in November 2024.

At the same time, a protest was held at the camp by supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and people who oppose the student blockades of the faculties. |BGNES