BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police on Monday removed street barricades in the capital Belgrade that are part of persistent dissent against the government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
Protesters are demanding the release of dozens of university students and others arrested after a massive weekend rally, accused of attacking the police or plotting to overthrow the government.
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People react as Serbian gendarmerie officers remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A Serbian gendarmerie officer guards an intersection after the removal of a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers stand in front of anti-government protesters in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers prepare to remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Riot police block anti-government protesters at the end of a rally pressing for an early election after nearly eight months of almost daily anti-corruption demonstrations that have shaken the populist government of President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Police dismantled metal fences and moved garbage containers blocking traffic in Belgrade's Zemun district, while several dozen protesters raised their hands in the air and chanted anti-government slogans. Police also intervened separately in a downtown area.
Protesters later changed tactics and continuously walked over a pedestrian crossing, thus blocking traffic again.
The protests and blockades began after a train station canopy collapsed in November, killing 16 people. Many in Serbia blamed the tragedy on corruption-fueled negligence in state infrastructure projects.
Thousands of demonstrators halted traffic at various locations in Belgrade and elsewhere throughout the country on Sunday evening, including a key bridge over the Sava River in the capital. Police removed those blockades early on Monday.
Police said in a statement that a number of people were detained but did not specify how many. Video posted on social media showed police vehicles driving at high speed through a blockade in one Belgrade street and people fleeing in panic.
Vucic praised police action in a statement during a visit to Spain, saying, “Citizens should not worry, the state is strong enough to secure law and order.”
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people demanded a snap parliamentary election at a student-led rally they hope will oust Vucic's right-wing government. Groups of protesters clashed with police after the official part of the rally ended. Dozens were later detained.
Vucic has refused to call the election, which is scheduled to be held in 2027. University students and professors are a key force behind nearly eight months of almost daily protests and Vucic has accused them of “terror” and attempts to destroy the country.
Riot police used batons, pepper spray and shields to charge at demonstrators who threw rocks and other objects at police cordons. Nearly 40 people face criminal charges over the clashes, police said.
Authorities detained at least eight university students for alleged acts against the constitutional order and national security, accusing them of planning attacks on state institutions.
Critics say Vucic has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power over a decade ago, stifling democratic freedoms while allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish, which he has denied.
Serbia is formally seeking entry to the European Union, but Vucic’s government has nourished relations with Russia and China.
People react as Serbian gendarmerie officers remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
A Serbian gendarmerie officer guards an intersection after the removal of a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers stand in front of anti-government protesters in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers prepare to remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Serbian gendarmerie officers remove a street blockade that was set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Riot police block anti-government protesters at the end of a rally pressing for an early election after nearly eight months of almost daily anti-corruption demonstrations that have shaken the populist government of President Aleksandar Vucic, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The search is on for one missing U.S. service member while another was rescued after two U.S. warplanes went down in separate incidents including the first shoot-down since the Iran war began nearly five weeks ago.
The incidents occurred just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”
One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down.
The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Here is the latest:
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in a social media post Saturday that an airstrike near its Bushehr nuclear facility killed a security guard and damaged a support building.
It is the fourth time the facility has been targeted during the war.
The Bushehr nuclear power plant uses low-enriched uranium from Russia, along with Russian technicians, to supply about 1,000 megawatts of power for Iran.
Its pressurized-water reactor can power hundreds of thousands of homes and other businesses and industries. But it contributes only 1% to 2% of Iran’s total power needs.
Iran has been trying to expand the facility to multiple reactors. In 2019, it began a project that ultimately plans to add two additional reactors to the site, each adding another 1,000 megawatts apiece.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has discussed with Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman defensive military assistance that Italy is providing against Iranian reprisals to U.S.-Israeli attacks.
A brief statement from Meloni's office Saturday did not specify what type of assistance Italy is providing.
It also said the two discussed diplomatic efforts to end the war, the importance of opening the Strait of Hormuz and “more broadly how to promote a regional framework that can break free from the current cycle of conflict.”
Meloni will continue her visit in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
U.S. and Israeli warplanes continued to pound Iran Saturday, hitting several targets including a petrochemical facility, Iranian media reported.
Iran's official English-language newspaper Tehran Times reported that an airstrike hit a facility belonging to Iran’s Agriculture Ministry in the western city of Mehran.
The newspaper said another air raid struck Mahshahr Special Petrochemical Zone in the southwestern Khuzestan province.
The semiofficial Fars news agency reported several explosions heard late Saturday morning in the facility.
Mehr, another semiofficial news agency, reported that the strikes hit four companies within the zone.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the veiled threat in a social media post late Friday, asking about how busy oil tanker and container ship traffic is through the strait.
The 20-mile (32-kilometer) strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean and is one of the busiest chokepoints in global trade, with more than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships passing through it.
Iran has already greatly disrupted the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, sending fuel prices skyrocketing and jolting the world economy.
Disrupting transit through the Bab el-Madeb would force shipping firms to route their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, further hitting prices.
Israel’s rescue services said Saturday the man sustained glass shrapnel wounds after an Iranian missile hit the central city of Bnei Brak.
It wasn't clear if the glass shrapnel was caused by a direct strike or falling debris from an intercepted missile.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue services said it was taking the man to the hospital.
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency said Saturday that the two men who were hanged belonged to the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
The agency said Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were convicted of “being members of a terrorist group.”
This brings to six the total number of MEK members executed since the start of the war.
Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge the accusations they face.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that its air force struck ballistic and and anti-aircraft missile storage sites in Tehran.
It said the strikes a day earlier included weapons manufacture sites as well as military research and development facilities in the Iranian capital.
It said the strikes are part of an ongoing phase to increase damage to Iran's “core systems and foundations.”
Authorities in Dubai said the facades of two buildings were damaged by debris from intercepted drones, including one belonging to U.S. tech firm Oracle. No injuries were reported.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to attack Oracle and 17 other U.S. companies after accusing them of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations in Iran.
Previous Iranian drone strikes caused damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
As of Friday, 247 of the wounded were Army soldiers, 63 were Navy sailors, 19 were Marines and 36 were Air Force airmen, according to Pentagon data available online.
It is unclear if the data includes any of the service members involved in the downing of two combat aircraft reported Friday.
Most of the wounded — 200 — were also mid to senior enlisted troops, 85 were officers and 80 were junior enlisted service members.
The current death toll remains at 13 service members killed in combat.
Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
