Tensions soar in Serbia as angry protesters clash with police, set fire to party offices

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Angry protesters clashed with police in a town in western Serbia and in the capital Belgrade on Saturday as tensions soared further in the Balkan nation following days of violent demonstrations.

Wearing scarves over their faces and chanting slogans against President Aleksandar Vucic, a group of young men threw flares at his Serbian Progressive Party offices in Valjevo, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital Belgrade. They set fire to the party's offices before clashing with riot police in a downtown area.

Police threw multiple rounds of tear gas and charged at the demonstrators who hurled bottles, rocks and flares at them.

Similar clashes also erupted on Saturday evening in the northern city of Novi Sad and in Belgrade, with police directing tear gas at protesters while battling the protesters who set garbage containers on fire.

The protesters in Valjevo turned out to the streets to protest what they allege is police brutality.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said at least one policeman was injured in Valjevo and 18 people detained so far.

“There will be more detentions. All those who have broken the law will be arrested,” Dacic said.

He said that the seat of the Valjevo court, prosecutor's office and the municipal building also have been demolished.

Serbia has been gripped by protests since November, when a train station canopy collapse killed 16 people. Many blamed the tragedy on poor renovation work resulting from widespread corruption in infrastructure projects.

The student-led protests had been largely peaceful for months but turned violent this week. The situation has put pressure on Serbia’s increasingly autocratic president Vucic, who has refused the protesters’ demand to call an early parliamentary election.

Vucic has accused the protesters of following orders from abroad to “destroy Serbia,” and promised a crackdown on the nationwide movement led by university students.

The protest in Valjevo drew several thousand people after a video on social media showed a young man from the town being severely beaten by police who kicked him and bashed him with batons during a protest earlier this week.

The gathering was peaceful until groups of protesters threw flares at the SNS offices which sparked the fire inside.

The incident marks the second such attack on the SNS party offices this week after protesters demolished the party headquarters in the northern city of Novi Sad on Wednesday.

Clashes between the SNS party loyalists and police on one side and anti-government protesters on the other side have erupted every evening since then. Dozens of people have been injured and scores have been detained.

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, has called for “calm and respect of the right to peaceful assembly”

“Serbian authorities must uphold Council of Europe standards,” he said on X this week.

Serbian police have denied reports of brutality, saying they have been attacked and that dozens of officers have been injured in the rioting.

Serbia is formally seeking EU membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China. The Serbian president has faced accusations of stifling democratic freedoms while allowing organized crime and corruption to flourish. He has denied this.

Serbian gendarmerie officers patrol in truck after clearing people blocking a street during an anti-government protest in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

A Serbian riot police officer directs a man filming after clearing people blocking a street during an anti-government protest in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbian gendarmerie officers guard a street during an anti-government protest near the Serbian Progressive Party office in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbian gendarmerie officers guard a street during an anti-government protest near the Serbian Progressive Party office in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Serbian gendarmerie officers patrol in truck during an anti-government protest near Serbian Progressive Party office in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Aug. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

OpenAI says it will soon start showing advertisements to ChatGPT users who aren't paying for a premium version of the chatbot.

The artificial intelligence company said Friday it hasn't yet rolled out ads but will start testing them in the coming weeks.

It's the latest effort by the San Francisco-based company to make money from ChatGPT's more than 800 million users, most of whom get it for free.

Though valued at $500 billion, the startup loses more money than it makes and has been looking for ways to turn a profit.

“Most importantly: ads will not influence the answers ChatGPT gives you,” said Fidji Simo, the company’s CEO of applications, in a social media post Friday.

OpenAI said the digital ads will appear at the bottom of ChatGPT's answers “when there’s a relevant sponsored product or service based on your current conversation.”

The ads “will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer,” the company said.

Two of OpenAI’s rivals, Google and Meta, have dominated digital advertising for years and already incorporate ads into some of their AI features.

Originally founded as a nonprofit with a mission to safely build better-than-human AI, OpenAI last year reorganized its ownership structure and converted its business into a public benefit corporation. It said Friday that its pursuit of advertising will be “always in support” of its original mission to ensure its AI technology benefits humanity.

But introducing personalized ads starts OpenAI “down a risky path” previously taken by social media companies, said Miranda Bogen of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

“People are using chatbots for all sorts of reasons, including as companions and advisors," said Bogen, director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab. “There’s a lot at stake when that tool tries to exploit users’ trust to hawk advertisers’ goods.”

OpenAI makes some money from paid subscriptions but needs more revenue to pay for its more than $1 trillion in financial obligations for the computer chips and data centers that power its AI services. The risk that OpenAI won’t make enough money to fulfill the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.

“It is clear to us that a lot of people want to use a lot of AI and don’t want to pay, so we are hopeful a business model like this can work,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post Friday on social platform X. He added that he likes the ads on Meta's Instagram because they show him things he wouldn't have found otherwise.

OpenAI claims it won't use a user's personal information or prompts to collect data for ads, but the question is “for how long,” said Paddy Harrington, an analyst at research group Forrester.

“Free services are never actually free and these public AI platforms need to generate revenue,” Harrington said. “Which leads to the adage: If the service is free, you’re the product.”

FILE - The OpenAI logo is displayed on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen with output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)