Serbia detains police officers over alleged protester abuse

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 5 Nov, 10:56 · Archive

Serbian authorities have detained ten police officers accused of using excessive force against anti-corruption protesters.

Serbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer on Wednesday over allegations of using excessive force against detainees during anti-corruption protests in Belgrade. The interior ministry said the suspects, who served in an elite unit, abused and tortured people held in the garage of a government compound in Belgrade on 14 and 15 August 2025. According to the ministry statement, they 'used force and threats to inflict great pain and severe suffering' on detainees, intending to obtain information and intimidate them.

The arrests came after anti-corruption protests swept Serbia, a candidate for European Union membership, beginning in late 2024. The protests were triggered by the collapse of a concrete canopy at a renovated railway station in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people. That disaster sparked wider demonstrations against alleged corruption, with protesters accusing police of using teargas, crowd-control vehicles and stun grenades to disperse crowds, causing injuries and psychological trauma.

The protests ultimately contributed to the ouster of the populist Serbian Progressive Party, loyal to former president Aleksandar Vučić, in an October snap parliamentary election won by a leaderless student-led movement. The arrests mark the first major prosecutions in connection with alleged violence against protesters. Al Jazeera reports that Igor Zmiric, commander of the Special Antiterrorism Unit, was among those detained, though the interior ministry released only initials of the suspects.

How it is being reported

• Serbian officers arrested for using ‘excessive force’ against protestersTen suspects are accused of abusing and torturing several people in the garage of a government compound in Belgrade.Al Jazeera · 5 Nov, 10:34
• Serbia detains police officers over alleged use of force against protestersInterior ministry claims suspects tortured and intimidated protesters detained in garage of government compound Serbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer on Wednesday for allegedly using excessive force against detainees during anti-corruption protests last year in Belgrade, the country’s interior ministry said. Anti-corruption protests swept across Serbia, a candidate for European Union membership, in 2025 and 2026 after 16 people died when a concrete canopy on a renovated railway station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed on 1 November 2024. Continue…The Guardian · 4 Nov, 20:42

In this story: Serbia · Belgrade · Serbian Progressive Party · Aleksandar Vučić · Novi Sad · European Union · Igor Zmiric

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