Serbian officers arrested for using ‘excessive force’ against protesters

Nine active Serbian police officers and one former officer have been arrested over accusations of using excessive force against students last year during protests that culminated in October’s electoral defeat of former President Aleksandar Vucic . The Serbian Ministry of Interior announced Wednesday’s arrests, alleging that the suspects abused and tortured several people in the garage of a government compound in Belgrade in August 2025.

In a statement, the ministry said the suspects were on duty when they “used force and threats to inflict severe pain and suffering on several injured people, in order to obtain information, intimidate and unlawfully punish them”. Anticorruption protests began in Serbia after 16 people were killed when the canopy at a railway station in Novi Sad collapsed in November 2024.

The collapse was seen as symptomatic of alleged widespread corruption under Vucic, who served as president for 12 years before conceding defeat last month after parliamentary elections. The ministry has released only the initials of the suspects but said they served in an elite unit.