Breaking: Gunfire and Flames Rock Belgrade – Serbia's President Labels Attack on Parliament a "Terrorist Event"

Chaos descended on the heart of Serbia's capital as gunfire rang out and flames engulfed a protest site outside the National Assembly, prompting President Aleksandar Vučić to swiftly brand the assault a "terrorist event."

The brazen incident, unfolding mere meters from the seat of power, has plunged the Balkan nation into heightened alert, with police detaining a suspect and emergency crews battling blazes amid cordoned-off streets.

Eyewitness videos circulating on social media captured the pandemonium: A burst of automatic fire echoed through Nemanjina Street around 10:30 AM local time, followed by shouts and the acrid smoke of a torched tent encampment, a makeshift hub for Vučić supporters enduring months of anti-government demonstrations.

One bystander was wounded in the leg by a stray bullet, according to initial reports from local outlets, though no fatalities have been confirmed as medics rushed the scene.

Firetrucks swarmed the area, dousing the inferno that sent plumes of black smoke billowing over the parliament's neoclassical facade, while riot-geared officers sealed off access points and scoured for additional threats.

In a terse address from the presidential office, Vučić decried the violence as a deliberate strike against the state, vowing a "swift and unyielding" probe. "This is a terrorist event aimed at our democracy," he stated, linking it to "foreign-backed agitators" fueling Serbia's spiraling protest wave, a narrative echoing his government's longstanding claims of Western meddling.

Authorities arrested a 70-year-old man, identified preliminarily as the shooter, who allegedly ignited the tent after exchanging fire with security.

The attack strikes at a raw nerve in Serbia, where public fury has simmered since the November 2024 collapse of a railway canopy in Novi Sad, a tragedy that claimed 15 lives and ignited nationwide accusations of corruption against Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) regime.

Student-led blockades, faculty strikes, and mass rallies have paralyzed universities and highways for months, culminating in Prime Minister Miloš Vučević's resignation in January 2025 and chaotic scenes inside parliament just last March, where opposition lawmakers hurled smoke bombs and flares, injuring three, one critically with a stroke.

Banners proclaiming "Corruption Kills" and "Serbia Has Risen" became rallying cries, with demonstrators blocking Belgrade's main arteries and demanding accountability – demands Vučić dismissed as "orchestrated destabilization" by EU and U.S. intelligence.

Today's flare-up, the first reported gunfire in this escalation, arrives as Serbia teeters on the EU accession tightrope, with Brussels citing "prevalent corruption" in its October 2024 assessment. Protests, now in their 11th month, have drawn tens of thousands, including professors, doctors, and farmers, to marches from Belgrade to Novi Sad, where a planned mega-rally on March 15, 2025, looms as a potential flashpoint.

Vučić's concessions, including cabinet shake-ups and public apologies, have done little to quell the storm, with opposition voices like those in the National Assembly decrying his rule as a "regime" bent on silencing dissent.

As forensics teams comb the smoldering site and the wounded receive care, Belgrade's streets buzz with a volatile mix of fear and defiance. Security has been beefed up around key landmarks, with Vučić's office hinting at "decisive measures" against perceived saboteurs.

In a nation scarred by a decade of Vučić's iron-fisted governance, this "terrorist" salvo could either fracture the protest momentum or ignite an inferno that engulfs the entire political edifice. The world watches as Serbia's powder keg smolders, one spark from explosion.