A divided Serbia: The thin line between political conflict and open violence

Over the past month, police cordons in various Serbian cities have repeatedly separated supporters and opponents of the government. With water cannons, egg throwing, insults, and physical violence.

The latest in a series of incidents occurred on August 10 in Vrbas, about 30 kilometers from Novi Sad. Police separated supporters of the government led by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) from those who opposed the government. The two groups exchanged curses and insults, and plastic bottles and eggs were thrown.

However, it was the incident in Bački Petrovac on August 9 that attracted public attention. On that day, a group of men verbally attacked and tore up photographs depicting student protests during the blockade of protests in Vojvodina at an exhibition organized by an informal group of citizens—Slovaks from Bačka, Banat, and Srem.

How did the incident in Bački Petrovac come about?

The incidents occurred after the police cordon separating the two groups of citizens was removed.

“This has greatly disturbed the Slovak community and the peaceful town of Bački Petrovac,” Petar Holik, a member of the opposition Civic Movement “Bravo! Novi Sad” and a councilor in the Novi Sad City Assembly, told Radio Free Europe (RFE).

Holik arrived in Bački Petrovac a day later to offer support to the residents of this Vojvodina town. He said he arrived by boat because the police had blocked the access roads to Bački Petrovac when citizens gathered at rallies and activists announced their arrival in Bački Petrovac.

“The citizens showed great willingness to come to Bački Petrovac in support, so they set off on the surrounding rural roads and succeeded in their intention. We, ten activists from the Bravo! Novi Sad civic movement, decided to cross the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal by boat,” says Holik.

He blames the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) for the incidents, saying that for years it has been “exploiting its political power to polarize society” in Serbia. “In addition to creating a huge divide within the Serbian nation, they have also started to use this method for national communities, so that we now have suitable and unsuitable Slovaks, Rusyns, Hungarians, Croats, etc. The Serbian Progressive Party draws its strength from division, hatred, and manipulation of the national sentiments of all peoples in the country,” Holik said.

He added that he and other activists in Bački Petrovac recognized “several people” among those who tore up photographs at the exhibition, whom they “previously knew as members and sympathizers of the SNS.”

The Serbian Progressive Party did not respond to RFE/RL’s inquiry about whether its members were involved in the incidents in Bački Petrovac before the article was published.

What connects Bački Petrovac and Novi Pazar?

Dejan Bursać, a research associate at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, sees the events in Bački Petrovac as a “show of force” by those in power.

“I’m not sure what the SNS is trying to achieve. It seems to me like a pure demonstration of power, where even after nine months they haven’t been able to shake off the feeling that this is ‘their country’ and that ‘some farmers’ dared to resist,” Bursać told RFE/RL.

He points out that the authorities have previously attempted to divide Serbian citizens along ethnic lines—most recently in Novi Pazar, where Bosniaks predominantly reside, after a group of masked men violently evicted students who had blocked the State University of Novi Pazar (DUNP) on the night of July 27-28.

The masked men were accompanied by Rector Žana Dolićanin. This was followed by a protest by hundreds of students and citizens. Clashes with the police and arrests ensued.

This was followed by a series of insults by pro-government tabloids and government representatives against the Bosniak population in Novi Pazar in southwestern Serbia.

Due to statements made by Assembly President Ana Brnabić following the incidents in Novi Pazar, members of the minority Bosniak Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in Sandžak filed a criminal complaint against Brnabić in the Serbian parliament in early August, citing “incitement to national, racial, and religious hatred and intolerance” as the reason.

Incidents and detentions in Novi Sad after the painting of the tricolor

On August 10, several hundred young people painted the tricolor on the facades of buildings in the Liman neighborhood, after which citizens, organized in local community assemblies, painted the facades of their buildings white, restoring them to their previous condition. There were several incidents, physical clashes, and police detentions of citizens.

At the time of writing, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) had not responded to RFE/RL’s questions about why the police withdrew from Bački Petrovac on August 9 after a group of men insulted the exhibition organizers and tore up photographs. The questions that the MUP did not answer were how many people and who was detained in Bački Petrovac and what the detainees are suspected of.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs did not respond to questions about how many people and who was detained in Novi Sad on Liman on August 10, nor what the suspects were detained for. There was also no response to the question of what orders the police received in specific cases.

What did government representatives say?

The president of the Serbian Progressive Party, Miloš Vučević, expressed his opinion on social network X, praising the citizens who painted the tricolor on the facades, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić accused those who oppose the painting of being “bothered by the Serbian tricolor.”

Political scientist Dejan Bursać assesses the events in Novi Sad as a “tactical move” by the ruling party.

“On the one hand, they are trying to present the protesters to those uncertain, undecided voters as anti-Serbian, irrational, and the like, thereby separating the protest movement from the body of voters who are still hesitant and undecided,” Bursać assesses.

He adds that, on the other hand, they are trying to “sow the seeds of discord within the protest movement itself.”

“Because there are also people who are more civic-minded, liberal, conservative, and nationally oriented,” he explains. Following recent events, with the announcement of economic measures and the publication of opinion polls on the elections, Bursać does not rule out the possibility that the government is “considering” calling early elections.

“Because I think that after nine months, Aleksandar Vučić realizes that there is no other way to resolve this social crisis,” Bursać concludes.

Students, who have been blocking faculties for nine months and demanding that those responsible for the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad be prosecuted, have turned to the government with demands for early parliamentary elections in early May. They decided to take this step because, as they stated, “the government is not showing the slightest initiative” to meet their demands.

According to the Serbian constitution, the president, currently Aleksandar Vučić, is responsible for calling parliamentary elections.

On August 8, he stated that parliamentary elections would be called “before the constitutional and legal deadline,” but did not specify when.

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