Demonstrators challenge President Vucic’s rule and demand elections, justice and rule of law.

Clashes have broken out between protesters and riot police after an antigovernment rally in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

Large crowds of demonstrators poured into central Belgrade on Saturday, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement that organised the gathering.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has sought to rein in mass demonstrations that have challenged his hardline rule in the Balkan country. The size of Saturday’s turnout suggested that dissent remains strong more than a year after protests first began with demonstrators demanding accountability for a train station tragedy in northern Serbia in November 2024 that killed 16 people.

Anticorruption protests forced then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign in January 2025 before the authorities moved to clamp down on the movement. Many in Serbia blamed the concrete canopy collapse at the station on alleged corruption-fuelled negligence during renovation work carried out with Chinese companies.

On Saturday, Serbia’s state railway company cancelled all trains to and from Belgrade in what appeared to be an effort to prevent at least some people from travelling to the capital from other parts of the country.

In a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, the president said protesters “have shown their violent nature and that they cannot stand political opponents”. Vucic, who was en route to China for a state visit, added: “The state is functioning and will continue to work in line with the law.”

Students on Saturday demanded early elections and the rule of law, accusing the government of crime and corruption. They said they now plan to challenge Vucic in this year’s elections, which they hope will unseat his right-wing populist government. Vucic said on Thursday that the parliamentary elections could be held between September and November.

Clashes were first reported near a park camp of Vucic loyalists outside the Serbian presidency building. The camp was set up before another large antigovernment rally last March as a human shield against protesters. Folk music blared from a fenced-off area surrounded by rows of riot police in full gear.

The Serbian president has come under international scrutiny for his hardline tactics against demonstrators over the past year, including arbitrary arrests and the use of excessive force. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticised Serbia’s government in a report after he visited the country last week and said he “will monitor the situation closely”.

O’Flaherty also cited “reports of police protecting unidentified and often masked attackers of journalists and protesters”. He said the overall human rights situation has deteriorated since his previous visit in April 2025.

Serbia is seeking to join the European Union while cultivating close ties with Russia and China. Democratic backsliding under Vucic could cost the country about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8bn) in EU funding, the bloc’s top enlargement official warned last month.

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More than 50 people injured in attack on train carrying military personnel in Quetta, capital of the southwestern province.

At least 24 people have been killed in a blast targeting a train carrying military personnel in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan, according to a senior official.

Army servicemen were among those killed in the provincial capital, Quetta, on Sunday in the attack, which wounded more than 50 people.

The official said the train was passing the Chaman Pattak signal in Quetta “when an explosive-laden car hit one of the carriages that resulted in a big blast”.

The force of the explosion caused two carriages of the train to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

The attack took place in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and shattering more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road.

The Balochistan Liberation Army separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

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Suicide car bombing attack on a train in Pakistan kills dozens

A Baloch separatist group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a train carrying soldiers in Quetta, Pakistan. The suicide car bombing killed at least 24 people and injured dozens more, including women and children.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/5/24/suicide-car-bombing-attack-on-a-train-in-pakistan-kills-dozens?traffic_source=rss