Serbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer on Wednesday for allegedly using excessive force against detainees during last year’s anti-corruption protests in Belgrade, the Interior Ministry said, according to The Straits Times / Reuters.

Anti-corruption protests swept Serbia — an EU candidate — in 2025 and 2026 after 16 people died when a concrete canopy at the renovated Novi Sad railway station collapsed on 1 November 2024. The protests led to the ouster of the populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), loyal to ex-President Aleksandar Vučić, in the 25 October snap election won by the Student List.

The ministry said the suspects, from an elite unit, tortured and intimidated several people held in the garage of the government compound in downtown Belgrade on 14–15 August 2025.

“By the use of force and threats, (they) inflicted great pain and severe suffering on a larger number of … persons, intending to obtain information from them and intimidating and unlawfully punishing them,” the statement said, naming only the officers’ initials.

It marked the first major arrests over violence against protesters in the past two years. Police used tear gas, crowd-control vehicles and stun grenades to disperse crowds; dozens of students and activists accused excessive force.

Source consulted: Serbia detains police officers over alleged use of force against protesters — The Straits Times.

Image: police after demonstrations, Belgrade (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sources consulted: Serbia detains police officers over alleged use of force against protesters — The Straits Times.