In Novi Sad, police separate citizens and members of the ruling SNS

AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS

Citizens of Novi Sad gathered today in the middle of the premises of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), protesting that SNS activists had set up stands where they were handing out promotional material.

As reported by Radio Free Europe, several verbal clashes occurred, and someone from the crowd threw eggs at SNS members and supporters.

Shortly after, the police arrived and formed a cordon between the two groups.

Local officials and directors of utility services are present among the SNS activists, while on the other side of the police corridor there are activists and opposition councilors.

The gathered citizens shout "Your hands are bloody", which is one of the slogans of the anti-government protests after the death of 16 people in the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad, May 18, 2025. The gathered disrupt the SNS activists with noise and shout "Pumpaj" and "Ubice", to which the SNS members respond with shouts of "Ustaše".

Both of them simultaneously play their music from the sound system.

These are the SNS premises from which, on the night between January 27 and 28, SNS members emerged and beat up a group of students, breaking one student's jaw with a baseball bat.

After this attack, the then Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Miloš Vučević and the Mayor of Novi Sad Milan Đurić resigned.

Also, the SNS offices are located on Bulevar oslobođenja, not far from the Railway Station where a concrete canopy collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people.

This triggered a wave of protests across the country demanding criminal and political accountability from the authorities.

The protests, which have mobilized hundreds of thousands of people for more than six months, are led by students who are blocking state universities.