Sawt Falasteen - 'Ready for violence': Serbian hooligans target protesters

After an hours-long ordeal, his assailants freed him, bruised and bloodied.

"I feared for my life. I had no idea what they were planning to do with me," Voja, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told AFP.

Weeks later, he is still visibly shaken when recounting the April 29 incident, just one report in a mounting pattern of violence against people connected to Serbia's long-running protest movement.

But unlike many other attacks, Voja said his captors made no attempt to hide their faces -- and had allegedly emerged from a van emblazoned with the campaign slogan of the ruling party of President Aleksandar Vucic.

- 'Ready for violence' -

For more than a year, student-led protests have swept across Serbia, with some rallies drawing crowds unseen since demonstrations toppled strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

Demands for a transparent investigation into a railway station canopy collapse in November 2024, which killed 16 people, have snowballed into a push for early elections, in a direct challenge to Vucic.

As the largely peaceful demonstrations grew, groups of young men -- largely dressed in black and wearing masks -- increasingly targeted anti-government gatherings.

During a series of demonstrations last year, protesters claimed the police shielded groups of masked men, some armed with batons and fireworks, and violently suppressed the anti-government side.

Council of Europe observers also witnessed the "threatening" presence of large groups of men, several masked, outside polling stations during local elections that were marred by violence earlier this year.

The ties between these groups, locally referred to as hooligans, and Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) run deep, according to Predrag Petrovic, research director at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy.

"The essence of it is that you have an organised group of people ready for violence, for street violence, and you want them on your side," he said.

- 'A blind eye' -

According to Petrovic, the existence of a pro-government camp -- reportedly containing known criminals -- near the country's parliament shows a clear connection to the government.

"Hooligan leaders wanted to be seen there in order to send a message to others about which side was the right one," the expert said, referring to the camp, which has remained ringed by fences and guarded by police for months.

There have been several reports of assaults on protesters and journalists near the camp, while Serbian media have identified known criminals staying inside.

"But the police turned a blind eye," Petrovic said.

Last summer, the president pardoned four men, linked to the SNS, accused of beating students and breaking a woman's jaw in Novi Sad.

Vucic has also visited what he dubbed the "defenders of Serbia" in the pro-government camp several times and bragged about being "partly a football hooligan" in a recent podcast -- claiming he was arrested "many times".

"Those remarks should be taken very seriously, and they are certainly utterly inappropriate," Petrovic said.

- 'Nightmares' -

With Vucic flagging potential early election dates, political outreach has ramped up on both sides, and it was during campaigning that Voja and his two friends were attacked.

After handing out stickers on the street in the Belgrade suburb of Resnik, a van painted with the campaign slogan of Vucic's party blocked their path, he said. A group of about five or six people jumped out to confront them.

As the men began threatening and grabbing the trio, one of Voja's friends used pepper spray.

According to Voja, the men chased him into a supermarket before dragging him out, beating him and forcing him into the car -- while repeatedly claiming to be police officers.

He said they drove him to an empty field and interrogated him before his friends published the alleged attackers' names on social media, at which point the men dropped him on a nearby street.

Neither the Interior Ministry nor the SNS responded to AFP's request for comment.

The incident has been reported to police and prosecutors, but Voja said he doubted there would be any real action.

With a badly bruised and swollen face, he remains fearful every time he goes outside.

"I have sleeping problems, mostly nightmares."

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST