Protest in Novi Sad marks anniversary of attack on citizens: 'We remember all the atrocities this regime has inflicted on us'

Dozens of citizens gathered in Novi Sad to protest, marking one year since supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) attacked demonstrators. The protest began at 7 p.m., with participants blocking the intersection of Žarka Zrenjanina Street and Mihajla Pupina Boulevard. A protest march was scheduled to follow.

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We remember all the atrocities this regime has inflicted on us over the years.

Mihailo Krstić of the Novi Sad Citizens' Assembly told N1 that the gathering aimed to demonstrate that "Novi Sad remembers" and to counter violence with peaceful and dignified means. "We remember all the atrocities this regime has inflicted on us over the years," Krstić said. He described the events of the previous year, where protesters were targeted with pyrotechnics, comparing it to wartime exercises rather than an event in a civilian city with women and children present.

Last year, on August 13, a protest march organized in response to similar incidents in Vrbas and Bačka Palanka turned violent when SNS supporters allegedly fired pyrotechnics, threw stones, and engaged in physical altercations with demonstrators outside the SNS premises on Stražilovska Street. Police and Gendarmerie intervened to separate the groups. Reports indicated that high-ranking SNS officials were present, protected by members of the military unit 'Kobre'. Several individuals were injured, including seven 'Kobre' members, some of whom allegedly fired shots into the air. Criminal proceedings were later initiated against several citizens in connection with the clash.

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We are fighting against violence peacefully and with dignity.

The current protest, dubbed the "March of Truth," was planned to proceed through several streets, culminating at the intersection with Novosadskog Sajma Street. The demonstration seeks to highlight the memory of the previous year's events and to assert a commitment to peaceful resistance against what organizers describe as regime-sanctioned violence.

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I served in the army and had exercises with artillery fire, but to experience something like that in a city where there are women, children, mothers, sisters. To be targeted with those pyrotechnic devices as if we were the worst enemies – that is something that is not forgotten.