Dozens injured and detained as anti-government protests in Serbia gather pace
Wednesday's unrest started in the northern city of Novi Sad when supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party threw flares at anti-government protesters who had been marching past the party offices, according to video from the scene.
Clashes there continued throughout the evening with rival groups hurling various objects at each other amid clouds of smoke and chaos.
An army security officer at the SNS party offices at one point fired his gun in the air, saying later he felt his life had been in danger.
The incidents marked an escalation in the persistent protests led by Serbia's university students that have rattled Mr Vucic's increasingly autocratic rule in Serbia.
Similar clashes were also reported on Tuesday evening.
The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms and of allowing organised crime and corruption to flourish, which he has denied.
Interior minister Dacic accused the protesters of attacking the governing party loyalists.
He said 'those who broke the law will be identified and sanctioned'.
Skirmishes also erupted in the capital Belgrade where riot police used tear gas to disperse groups of protesters.
Riot police formed a cordon around a makeshift camp of Mr Vucic's loyalists outside the presidency building downtown.
University students posted on X to accuse the authorities of trying to 'provoke a civil war with the clashes' at demonstrations that passed without incident even while drawing hundreds of thousands of people.
'Police were guarding the regime loyalists who were throwing rocks and firing flares at the protesters,' the students added.
Demonstrations started in November after a renovated train station canopy crashed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people and triggering accusations of corruption in state-run infrastructure projects.
More protests are planned on Thursday evening.
The protesters are demanding that Mr Vucic call an early parliamentary election, which he has refused to do.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but Mr Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Trump must not give Kim Jong Un the recognition he craves
When dealing with rogue states, being pessimistic often means being realistic. The much-anticipated summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin last week allowed the Russian leader to relish the bright Alaskan lights of summitry with Trump, buy the precious commodity of time, all while maintaining his ambition to defeat Ukraine. Amidst this week's numerous meetings between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a resolution to the Ukraine war remains elusive. But we must not forget that hours before Trump and Putin met in Alaska, another high-level meeting took place in Pyongyang between Kim Jong Un and the Chairman of Russia's state Duma. It was a stark reminder that ending the Ukraine war on the battlefield is not going to end the ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. The date of 15 August 2025 now holds significance for the trajectory of the Ukraine war, but whether it marks the start of a drawn-out process of negotiations between Moscow, Washington, and Kyiv or continued lip service from Putin remains to be seen. Yet for different reasons, 15 August is also a day of commemoration on the Korean Peninsula, signifying the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule as the second world war neared its conclusion. Unusually, it is one of the only public holidays celebrated across both sides of the Demilitarised Zone. For North Korea, the occasion is a moment to chastise the once-imperial power of Japan, and – on some but not all years – host military parades in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square. After all, according to North Korea's false narrative, Kim Il Sung led an anti-Japanese guerrilla movement all by himself in the 1930s. In South Korea, 15 August marks the day the country became a separate state to the communist North in 1948 and often witnesses the South Korean president outlining their vision for inter-Korean relations and, of course, their relations with Japan. Hours before Trump and Putin were to meet, the visit by yet another confidante of Putin to Pyongyang only stressed how the Ukraine war is not over and any deal acceptable to all sides is a long way off. It was not just Trump who would roll out the red carpet for Putin. Kim Jong Un would do the same to Vyacheslav Volodin, who would later deliver a letter to the North Korean leader from Putin himself, thanking him for North Korea's military support in his fight against Ukraine. This week's meetings between Trump, Zelenskyy, and European Union leaders make clear that whilst the interests most directly at stake in the war remain those of Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington, there are other parties. The escalating North Korea-Russia relationship – which Kim Jong Un once again described as 'invincible' – has meant that South Korea is no longer a peripheral observer to the war. With military and missile technology likely heading from Moscow to Pyongyang – which will be relished by North Korea in helping to develop its nuclear and missile capabilities – a swift conclusion to the war is firmly in Seoul's interests. Yet, although South Korea has supplied tanks, howitzers, and FA-50 fighter jets to Poland, which subsequently transfers the arms to Ukraine, Seoul remains reluctant to supply lethal assistance directly. Just over a week after having met Putin, Zelenskyy, and Western leaders, Trump will host South Korea's leftist President Lee Jae-myung in Washington on 25 August for the first summit between the two leaders. Whilst the infamous tariffs – which negotiations between Seoul and Washington have reduced to 15 per cent – will dominate talks, another topic of discussion will be the US-South Korean alliance amidst Trump's calls for South Korea to pay more for the US's extended deterrence and security guarantee. How to deal with the intractable issue of North Korea will also likely feature at a time when left-wing Lee has proclaimed that South Korea does not seek to 'absorb' the North and wishes to 'usher in a new era of peace on the Korean Peninsula'. Speaking of peace on the Korean Peninsula is all well and good, but akin to the case of Russia, Seoul must not underestimate Pyongyang's penchant and strategy for continued delinquency. For all Trump's intentions to meet Kim Jong Un and Lee's calls for reconciliation and dialogue with Seoul's northern neighbour, Seoul and Washington must make clear how the world cannot give Kim Jong Un what he wants, namely international recognition of North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. The easy way to convince North Korea to improve its behaviour may be to ease sanctions, but Seoul and Washington must resist this time-old urge. Giving Pyongyang benefits will only lead to further abuse, a logic which can also apply to Russia. There is no such thing as a free lunch. As global eyes were fixed on Alaska, Kim Jong Un lauded the 'friendship and unity' between North Korean and Russian soldiers in the ongoing fight against 'a mutual enemy'. Identifying this undefined mutual enemy, however, was no Sisyphean task: it was not just Ukraine or the United States but also the broader West. For as long as we must wait for the next Trump-Putin or Trump-Kim meeting – in Moscow or elsewhere – Russia and its allies will not relent in forging a 'coalition of the willing', united in their opposition of the United States, its allies, and its leadership of international order. For this reason, the West cannot capitulate.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
‘We would love to enter Eurovision!' The boy who saw some unclaimed land – and founded his own country
Most presidential residences feature a grand entrance, security guards, perhaps a few pillars. They also tend to be inside the country of which the occupant is president. Yet when I arrive at the home of Daniel Jackson, president of the Free Republic of Verdis, it is neither magnificent, nor on the Serbian-Croatian border, where his country is situated, but on a small street round the back of a bingo hall in Dover, Kent. Jackson, 20, was born in Australia to British parents, and lived in Melbourne until he was 17. He was only 14 when he and a group of friends decided they 'wanted to do something that was unique'. While most others their age were scrolling TikTok, Jackson and his friends – some from south-east Europe who he had met online, some from Waverley Christian College, the Melbourne private school he attended – scoured maps, and discovered an unclaimed strip of forest that falls outside the borders of Croatia and Serbia. They thought it would be fun to see if they could make it into a country, and named it Verdis. The 'micronation' (a largely unrecognised small country, as opposed to officially recognised 'microstates' such as Andorra and Monaco) is just 1.6 hectares larger than Vatican City and has never been inhabited. It has not been part of a nation since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. 'Obviously that was more than 30 years ago,' says Jackson. 'So we believe we're rightful to it under international law.' Though there is no single, universal way to acquire sovereignty over a territory, Jackson and his fellow Verdis enthusiasts have formed a government, established laws, mapped out the area, planted a flag (pale blue and white stripes; very similar to Argentina's) and attracted 15,000 applications for citizenship, 400 of which have been accepted. Legal experts have told Jackson that 'under international law, the oldest active claimant to the land is the rightful claimant', he says. 'Which is us, because Croatia and Serbia have never claimed this land.' Verdis is the result of a border dispute in the region. Serbia considers its border to be the centre line of the Danube (this has mostly been the accepted border since the Croatian war of independence ended in 1995). But Croatia wants the border to be 'cadastral' – based on old border maps. The discrepancy has resulted in a few unclaimed pockets of land, such as Verdis (which sits on the Croatian side of the Danube, but outside Croatia's self-defined border). Jackson and his government have always had a 'positive experience' in Serbia, but Croatian authorities have refused to recognise Verdis, presumably seeing it as an unhelpful presence in this border dispute. In October 2023, when Jackson and a group of citizens attempted to settle permanently in Verdis, they were forcibly removed by the Croatian police. Jackson and his vice-president, Hector Bowles, who lives between Dover and Bulgaria and was introduced to Jackson via a mutual friend, were issued lifetime bans from Croatia. This is a significant setback, given that it is difficult to access Verdis without entering Croatia. And so Jackson is now, as he puts it, 'in exile', living with a family friend in Dover, where he works from home as a freelance game developer for the online platform Roblox. Still, when I show up at his door, the 20-year-old is in full president mode, dressed in a suit and tie, a tiny metal Verdisian flag pinned to his lapel, and another, much larger fabric flag stretched across a display stand that has been placed in the corner of the otherwise very ordinary living room. I can't help but feel slightly bemused that Jackson has gone to this effort to prepare for my visit – and even more so when he insists on checking the bathroom has been left in a good condition before allowing me to use it. It's all very endearing, but it feels more like a roleplay of a meeting with a politician. Jackson admits that, at first, Verdis wasn't something that he took too seriously. 'It was a bit of an experiment,' he says, inspired by Liberland, a larger pocket of previously unclaimed land 20km north of Verdis. That micronation is similarly unclaimed by Croatia and Serbia and was declared an independent country by Czech rightwing politician Vít Jedlička in 2015, who intended the nation to be a tax haven. 'We liked the idea of Liberland, but we didn't agree entirely with its ideology,' Jackson says – so they decided to see if they could create their own version. The name Verdis was chosen for its similarity to the Latin word for green – viridis – and the initial concept for the new country was that it would focus on environmental concerns. For several years, Verdis remained little more than an idea; until 2023, when interest in the micronation began to grow. Jackson, then 18, made several trips to the territory with some of its other supporters. 'We were bringing in tree surgeons. We were doing a lot of cadastral [surveying] work. We camped there for quite a long time if you put all the trips together,' he says. 'I thought: let's make it a reality.' While I can just about get my head around the idea of a hare-brained teenage scheme that got out of hand, I am finding it difficult to understand why Jackson is still pouring so many resources into a project that is a constant struggle – spending hours learning Serbian and Croatian (Verdis's two other official languages, as well as English), constantly raising awareness, and creating passports that you can't even use to travel. (You can, at least, use them as ID in bars, which Jackson says he has done 'many times'.) There is also the matter of funding – though Verdis's government positions are voluntary, the nation pays ministers' travel costs to Verdis and to any political forums for which they are able to secure invitations, as well as paying to host its website (using a third-party hosting company was deemed too insecure). Jackson and his government have come up with a number of ways to raise money, from selling Verdis merchandise to asking for donations and setting up a citizenship-by-investment scheme. This month the country received a donation of more than $37,000 USD, raised by cryptocurrency enthusiasts through an unaffiliated coin known as $Verdis. Clearly there are people who can grasp Jackson's motivation better than I can. It's possible that part of the reason for this is my gender – just as it tends to be the male halves of Grand Designs couples who have a stronger desire to build themselves a palace, whatever the cost, it seems that men are more inclined to start a new country: 70% of Verdis's citizens, and all seven of its government ministers, are men. This is not because of any kind of meninist agenda, Jackson assures me, and it is something he would like to address, but 'it's a lot harder to find women who are interested in getting involved'. While he awaits the day he can attempt to turn these plans for a settlement into reality, Jackson has been spreading the word about Verdis in his local area: he loves a kebab, and his loyal patronage has got the staff at Dover Kebab posting stories about Verdis on Instagram. Jackson moved to Dover after dropping out of school at 17. Australia's 'quite severe' lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic 'killed a lot of my motivation to continue to attend school', he says. He wanted a 'fresh start', and had 'always preferred being in the UK' to Australia, having visited many times throughout his childhood to see family. He initially secured a job with ferry company DFDS, on the Dover to Dunkirk route. Though freelance work suits him much better these days, given his frequent trips to south-east Europe, he still loves the ferries, and plans to treat himself to a short trip to Calais soon. He's had a 'full-on July' travelling to Serbia to raise awareness about Verdis, and briefly to Verdis itself, where he was once again chased off the land by Croatian police. Jackson says he has been assured that the territory is rightfully his under international law, but 'it's hard for us to take legal action against Croatia when they're not allowing us to access their legal system', he says. He tells me about a recent instance when citizens of Liberland tried to take a Croatian police officer to court after he injured one of them, and 'the judge threw the case out because it didn't happen in Croatian territory'. Any attempts by Verdisians to make similar cases would probably be discarded in the same way, he thinks. 'And in order to take a case to the European court of human rights, 'we have to exhaust all resources in Croatia, which is hard for us to do'. The Croatian authorities were approached but have made no comment on Jackson's case. Resuming a settlement on the land is Jackson's primary goal – a presence there will release funding that has been agreed with an NGO (he can't tell me which one, as he has been made to sign an NDA), and will vastly improve Verdis's chances of becoming an officially recognised state. But he says Croatia has 'now installed cameras all along Verdis's coastline, so if you even hover your boat for 10 minutes in the territorial waters, a Croatian police boat will be on its way very quickly'. And Jackson and his affiliates have to be careful – after the 2023 deportation, some of Verdis's boats went missing – he suspects they were taken by the Croatian authorities. He is remarkably hopeful, however. 'Croatia still insists Verdis is not part of Croatia,' he says. 'So we believe it's a matter of when, not if, we're back on the land.' He hopes that with enough pressure from publicity, or perhaps a change of Croatian government, the country will come to recognise Verdis – and even become open to working together. 'Even though we're not happy with what Croatia's done, especially their violation of international law and the way they've treated our citizens, we still want good relations with them in the future,' Jackson says. I'm not sure if his relentless optimism is simply due to his age or rooted more deeply in his character, but Jackson seems convinced that he will one day live in Verdis, and has plenty of dreams for what the country might eventually look like. Though the original environmental focus has taken a back seat ('We still want to be environmentally conscious … but as Verdis's population builds up we will have to relocate a lot of wildlife'), he envisions the country as a neutral state; 'a middleground between other countries' and 'a good hub for NGOs'. Humanitarianism is a priority for Verdis's government. Most of its cabinet members have previously undertaken aid work – Bowles, for example, set up the Dover-based charity DIY Ukraine in 2022, delivering supplies to Ukrainians, and Verdis previously ran its own Ukrainian aid programme via this charity. Though Jackson says Verdis 'would want to be part of the eurozone', EU membership is not a goal: 'I am a very pro-EU person, but the EU is not designed for small countries.' A Eurovision song contest entry, on the other hand, very much is. 'We would love to, honestly,' Jackson says, adding that Verdis has 'quite a good few connections with Eurovision contestants anyway' – namely Luke Black, Serbia's 2023 entry, who Jackson has met and says is 'quite a big supporter' of Verdis. When approached by the Guardian, the singer said he had found Jackson's vision for Verdis 'interesting, especially given he's in his early 20s and leading such an initiative'. Though he is 'not affiliated with Verdis in any way', the singer added: 'I wish them well in their efforts.' Astonishingly, given all the time he has dedicated to Verdis's creation and his hopes for its future, Jackson plans to step down from the presidency the moment the country becomes an established state. 'I just want to be a normal citizen by then,' he says. His own politics are 'centrist', but he would accept the result of an election. 'Even if I don't agree with the next president's views, that's up to the Verdisians to decide, which I would always respect.' Some of his cabinet members may be interested in running for president, he thinks; but others, like him, have already become 'exhausted' by the workload involved. 'It would be nice to have a break,' he says. 'But we won't give up.' I can't help but wonder again why he is bothering to go through all of this when it's such an uphill battle, and the reward – a sliver of land that is currently uninhabitable – seems so small. 'You have to be nuts to start something like this, of course,' he concedes. 'But the world is boring without trying something crazy.'
Reuters
a day ago
- Reuters
War or peace? For oil markets, the Ukraine outcome is insignificant
LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's high-stakes diplomacy to resolve the war in Ukraine is unlikely to jolt oil and gas markets, no matter the outcome. Russia has faced multiple rounds of western sanctions and restrictions since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which have dealt severe blows to the country's giant oil and gas industry, sapping Moscow of vital revenue and reshaping global energy markets. Russian gas now accounts for just 18% of European imports, down from 45% in 2021, while the bloc's oil imports from Russia have fallen to 3% from around 30% over that time. The European Union plans to fully phase out Russian energy by 2027. Meanwhile, India has increased its share of Russian crude to 38% of total imports from 16% in 2021, according to Kpler. China and Turkey have also notably ramped up their Russian oil purchases. The war in Ukraine has left over a million dead or wounded, so its conclusion would be welcomed by many. Energy markets, however, are not apt to register much of a reaction unless there is a full ceasefire along with the lifting of all U.S. and European sanctions. And that is long shot. Given the more probable set of scenarios, oil and gas markets are unlikely to be rattled by the fallout from either last Friday's disappointing summit between Trump and Russian President Valdimir Putin or the U.S. president's meetingwith his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders on Monday. Full peace in Ukraine remains highly improbable. Trump's apparent support for a comprehensive settlement, rather than a ceasefire, has widened the gap between America, Ukraine and Europe. At the same time, his suggestion of U.S. post-settlement security guarantees for Ukraine is likely to face resistance from Moscow. In other words, don't bet on a full normalization of relations between Russia and the West any time soon. Trump might pressure Zelenskiy into accepting a temporary or partial halt in fighting. But even then, Europe is unlikely to resume Russian energy imports while Putin remains in power. Before 2022, Europe accounted for nearly half of Russia's 4.7 million barrels per day of oil exports and 75% of its gas exports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Trump administration could attempt to ease some sanctions unilaterally, but this could face opposition in Congress, including from Republicans, unless a broad peace deal is reached. Perhaps the more likely scenario – Trump failing to broker a deal – also shouldn't have a major impact on energy markets. The U.S. could tighten sanctions, particularly by targeting buyers of Russian energy, as Trump has already threatened. But the U.S. president said on Friday that he would delay so-called "secondary sanctions" on China due to what he described as 'successful' talks with Putin. Of course, India already faces secondary tariffs over its Russian oil purchases. Earlier this month, Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing the country's continued oil imports from Russia. The new tariff, effective August 27, will bring total tariffs on Indian imports to 50%. But even though Indian buyers already appear to be reducing their Russian oil purchases, the impact on global supplies has been minimal as China has increased its intake of Russian crude. Ultimately, China matters far more in this story, and it's unlikely to significantly curb its Russian oil imports, not least because it considers its relationship with Moscow to be strategic. Chinese and Russian oil producers, refiners and traders have already built a sprawling network of tankers and insurers to circumvent Western sanctions on Venezuela, Iran, and Russia. Additionally, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods already average 55%, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Additional tariffs could raise costs for U.S. consumers, and Beijing could retaliate, potentially by withholding rare earths or other critical minerals, all outcomes Trump would want to avoid – and Beijing knows this. In short, Trump appears to have little stomach for the potential consequences, and even if he were to tighten sanctions, this likely wouldn't materially affect China's ability to import oil. Crucially, oil and gas markets appear to be entering a period of oversupply, meaning any possible disruption in Russian volumes can easily be offset. The IEA expects oil supply to exceed demand by 1.76 million barrels per day in 2025 and by 3 million bpd in 2026, driven by rising output from OPEC+ and the Americas. Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets are also expanding rapidly, with new supply coming online in the coming years across the U.S., Qatar, Canada, and elsewhere. LNG capacity is projected to grow from 500 million tons per year in 2024 to 800 mtpa by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. While Trump's foreign policy remains unpredictable, a few things seem clear. He can't, as he once claimed, end the Ukraine war in one day, and what he can do is unlikely to have much of an impact on oil and gas markets. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI),, opens new tab your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI, opens new tab can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn, opens new tab and X., opens new tab
