While the government put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade, an independent monitor said 325,000 – if not more – had gathered, making it Serbia’s largest protest ever.

The Novi Sad collapse last November has galvanised anger towards the government and President Aleksandar Vucic. Demonstrators blame corruption and corner-cutting for the loss of life.

They believe the disaster reflects more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic – who closely associated himself with the station’s recent renovation.

President Vucic addressed the nation on Saturday and praised the police, adding that he was proud that “we managed to preserve the peace”.

He added that he “understood” the protesters’ message, and said “we will have to change ourselves”.

Despite multiple resignations – and Vucic’s insistence that he is going nowhere – the protests have only continued to grow.

“We just want a country that works,” law student Jana Vasic told the BBC in the growing crowd in Belgrade.

“We want institutions that do their jobs properly. We don’t care what party is in power. But we need a country that works, not one where you don’t get justice for more than four months.”

Republic Square – just one of the four meeting points around Serbia’s capital for the “15th for 15” protest – was full to overflowing on Saturday.

Some took refuge on the plinth of Prince Mihajlo’s statue – the traditional spot for Belgraders to meet, the equivalent of Eros in London’s Piccadilly.

Others queued up along the road in front of the National Museum, stretching all the way back to Students’ Square.

The other meeting points were every bit as crowded ahead of the planned rendezvous in front of the National Assembly.

The Public Meeting Archive said 275,000-325,000 had attended the protest – “with the possibility that the number was even higher”.

“Due to the extraordinary size, dynamic nature and structure of the assembly, as well as the unclear situation in some parts of the city… a more precise assessment is not possible,” it added.

Serbian media reports 22 people were arrested and 56 others injured.

While the protests over the Novi Sad collapse began with students, they have been joined by taxi drivers, farmers and lawyers.

Ahead of the big protest, motorbike riders pulled up outside the National Assembly, facing off against the tractors surrounding a camp of pro-government counter-protesters.

Then a parade of military veterans received a rousing welcome. They said they would make a citizen’s arrest on anyone who attacked the students.

The students have been calling for full transparency and accountability over the collapse of a concrete and glass canopy at the station in Serbia’s second city, which was renovated and only reopened – by Vucic – in 2022.

They want the government to publish all the documentation relating to the renovation project and say they are not satisfied with the papers the authorities have released so far.

They also want those responsible for the disaster to be charged and convicted. Prosecutors have indicted at least 16 people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic.

But the charges have yet to go to trial. And the students insist they will continue with their protests until the authorities meet all their demands.

“We’re making progress,” a student representing Belgrade University’s philosophy faculty told the BBC. “But at this point none of our demands have been met completely.”

“A couple of politicians have resigned from their offices,” noted another. “But they weren’t fired. We’re yet to see anything but empty promises”.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation at the end of January. But that has yet to be ratified by the National Assembly and he remains in his post.

But the real power in Serbia lies with Vucic, who insists that he is going nowhere.

“I don’t give in to blackmail,” he told a media conference on the eve of the big protest. “I won’t allow the street to pave a horrible future for this country.”

Vucic described the student protests as “well-intentioned”. But he had less flattering words for opposition parties, labelling them members of a “criminal cartel”. He accused them of attempting to force the formation of a “fraudulent interim government”.

Borko Stefanovic does not deny that the opposition parties are looking for the establishment of a “government of experts”.

The deputy president of the Party of Freedom and Justice describes it as the “only rational way out” of the political crisis, which would establish the conditions for fresh elections.

Like other opposition leaders, Stefanovic says that free elections are not currently possible due to the Progressive Party’s domination of the media and state institutions.

But this is not one of the students’ demands. They are simply calling for the truth behind the Novi Sad disaster to be established.

As law professor Miodrag Jovanovic puts it “they are asking for the things I’ve been lecturing about – the rule of law, respect for the constitution, and the responsibility and accountability of public officials”.

Whatever happens during the “15th for 15” protest, it seems unlikely that the students will relent until they receive some satisfactory answers.

The government has put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade. Organisers and independent monitors have yet to give their estimates.

Either way, it probably ranks as the largest demonstration Serbia has ever seen.

The Novi Sad collapse last November has galvanised anger towards the government and President Aleksandar Vucic. Demonstrators blame corruption and corner-cutting for the loss of life.

They believe the disaster reflects more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic – who closely associated himself with the station’s recent renovation.

Despite multiple resignations – and Vucic’s insistence that he is going nowhere – the protests have only continued to grow.

“We just want a country that works,” law student Jana Vasic told the BBC in the growing crowd in Belgrade.

“We want institutions that do their jobs properly. We don’t care what party is in power. But we need a country that works, not one where you don’t get justice for more than four months.”

Republic Square – just one of the four meeting points around Serbia’s capital for the “15th for 15” protest – was full to overflowing on Saturday.

Some took refuge on the plinth of Prince Mihajlo’s statue – the traditional spot for Belgraders to meet, the equivalent of Eros in London’s Piccadilly.

Others queued up along the road in front of the National Museum, stretching all the way back to Students’ Square.

The other meeting points were every bit as crowded ahead of the planned rendezvous in front of the National Assembly.

While the protests over the Novi Sad collapse began with students, they have been joined by taxi drivers, farmers and lawyers.

Ahead of the big protest, motorbike riders pulled up outside the National Assembly, facing off against the tractors surrounding a camp of pro-government counter-protesters.

Then a parade of military veterans received a rousing welcome. They said they would make a citizen’s arrest on anyone who attacked the students.

The students have been calling for full transparency and accountability over the collapse of a concrete and glass canopy at the station in Serbia’s second city, which was renovated and only reopened – by Vucic – in 2022.

They want the government to publish all the documentation relating to the renovation project and say they are not satisfied with the papers the authorities have released so far.

They also want those responsible for the disaster to be charged and convicted. Prosecutors have indicted at least 16 people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic.

But the charges have yet to go to trial. And the students insist they will continue with their protests until the authorities meet all their demands.

“We’re making progress,” a student representing Belgrade University’s philosophy faculty told the BBC. “But at this point none of our demands have been met completely.”

“A couple of politicians have resigned from their offices,” noted another. “But they weren’t fired. We’re yet to see anything but empty promises”.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation at the end of January. But that has yet to be ratified by the National Assembly and he remains in his post.

But the real power in Serbia lies with Vucic, who insists that he is going nowhere.

“I don’t give in to blackmail,” he told a media conference on the eve of the big protest. “I won’t allow the street to pave a horrible future for this country.”

Vucic described the student protests as “well-intentioned”. But he had less flattering words for opposition parties, labelling them members of a “criminal cartel”. He accused them of attempting to force the formation of a “fraudulent interim government”.

Borko Stefanovic does not deny that the opposition parties are looking for the establishment of a “government of experts”.

The deputy president of the Party of Freedom and Justice describes it as the “only rational way out” of the political crisis, which would establish the conditions for fresh elections.

Like other opposition leaders, Stefanovic says that free elections are not currently possible due to the Progressive Party’s domination of the media and state institutions.

But this is not one of the students’ demands. They are simply calling for the truth behind the Novi Sad disaster to be established.

As law professor Miodrag Jovanovic puts it “they are asking for the things I’ve been lecturing about – the rule of law, respect for the constitution, and the responsibility and accountability of public officials”.

Whatever happens during the “15th for 15” protest, it seems unlikely that the students will relent until they receive some satisfactory answers.

Spent smoke bombs, smears of egg yolk and a dusting of white fire extinguisher powder had all been removed from the benches and tables after the mayhem of the previous day.

The police had also been on the scene.

They were gathering evidence for potential criminal charges against the MPs who had plunged the parliament into a fug of pink and black smoke as they unfurled banners accusing the government of corruption.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic labelled the scenes “hooliganism”. He said he was “looking for responsibility, criminal law” to be applied.

Three female MPs were hurt. One of them was hit on the back of the head by an object, although it was unclear who threw it, and another apparently suffered a stroke.

The EU said a parliament should be a place for democratic debate and that it was very concerned.

Opposition party MPs were unabashed.

The co-leader of the Green-Left Front, Radomir Lazovic, had let off a fire extinguisher from his seat in the chamber.

He described the intervention as “a response to the violence that has been perpetrated against the citizens of Serbia for 13 years”.

That covers the period that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has been in power.

Under the leadership of Vucic – who previously served as deputy prime minister and prime minister – the party has been an election-winning machine.

The SNS has emerged victorious from no fewer than five parliamentary elections since it first formed a governing coalition in 2012.

Its opponents claim that has more to do with the party’s domination of Serbia’s media outlets and state institutions than its policies.

But Vucic has successfully projected an image of strong, effective leadership that appeals to a large proportion of Serbia’s electorate – particularly outside the main urban areas.

He has weathered plenty of protest movements over the years. All of them have fizzled out without dislodging the president or his party.

But the current series of rallies, demonstrations and blockades is presenting an unusually tricky challenge.

The outpouring of outrage started with November’s disaster at Novi Sad railway station – when a concrete canopy collapsed at the recently-renovated facility, killing 15 people.

The station was part of the government’s flagship infrastructure project – the high-speed railway linking the capital, Belgrade, to Budapest in Hungary. The fatal failure at such a high-profile site caused anguish and anger – and stoked suspicions that official corruption was behind the collapse.

Students have been leading the calls for transparency and accountability, holding daily 15-minute vigils for the dead. But workers, ranging from lawyers to farmers, have also been staging strikes and blocking roads.

“Everyone has a reason to be unhappy,” says analyst and journalist Bojan Elek. “Terrible salaries, poor working conditions – everyone had something to add to the huge dissatisfaction that’s in the population.

“But the students have been the key cohesive factor.”

What the students have not been is political. They have kept opposition parties and NGOs away from their increasingly elaborate events, which have seen them take over the city centres of Novi Sad and Nis in recent weeks.

Mr Elek describes this as “a good move” – but notes that “at some point, politics will have to come into play”.

What that might look like is not yet clear. Opposition parties are atomised – with no one single party capable of challenging the SNS, and an absence of a credible coalition.

They have at least been united in their calls for the establishment of a technical government following the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic at the end of January.

This could, they suggest, establish an electoral environment that would reduce the SNS’s domination of the media and state bodies.

Vucic has rejected that idea as an opposition attempt to overthrow a legitimately elected government. He may appoint a replacement prime minister or call fresh elections, even though the previous polls were held as recently as December 2023.

Meanwhile, the protests continue. Students are promising their largest event yet in Belgrade on 15 March.

Fifteen people were killed were killed on November 1 when a roof collapsed at a train station in the city of Novi Sad, fuelling longstanding anger over corruption and nepotism.

Since  then, mass demonstrations have grown into Serbia’s largest protest movement in years and represent a threat to populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s decade-long grip on power.

In the near-freezing temperatures, students arrived in Kragujevac from across Serbia by bus and even on foot, beating drums, blowing whistles, and holding up the country’s flag.

The protesters planned to block one of the city’s main boulevards for 15 hours and 15 minutes, in a tribute to the train station victims. They also held 15 minutes of silence.

“We are here to fight for a better tomorrow, against corruption,” said 20-year-old Jovan, who drove from the capital Belgrade.

Student protestors have enjoyed broad support from Serbia’s public, many of whom blame the Novi Sad tragedy on corruption and nepotism within Vucic’s government, allegations authorities deny.

Verica, a 52-year-old professor from the city, joined the protest with her teenage daughter.

“I have not been so happy and proud for a long time,” she said. “I am proud of their persistence.”

The university student-led movement has put increasing pressure on Serbia’s government, spurring the resignation of several high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic at the end of January.

Elsewhere, 13 people have been charged over the train station disaster. But this has done little to quell the demonstrations.

Since the accident, students have staged daily protests, taking over university buildings and blocking highways and squares.

“We  will stay here until the blockade ends,” said Djordje Vujovic, 22, a mechanical engineering student.

The students are demanding that authorities publish documents relating to the station roof collapse. They also want justice for those responsible, the dismissal of charges against protesting students, and a greater budget for higher education.

Ivan and Ivana, 23-year-old mathematics students, were among a group of about 400 people who had walked for four days to reach Kragujevac from Belgrade.

“We wanted to show the people living in the country that we support them,” Ivan said. “We do not think only about the people in Belgrade.”

Vucevic said he had taken the decision “in order to avoid further complicating things” and so as to “not further raise tensions in society”.

Fifteen people died in November when a concrete canopy at a railway station collapsed in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city.

The deaths prompted a huge and sustained wave of protests across the country. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets since then, demanding accountability for the collapse and protesting corruption and alleged lack of oversight on construction projects.

More than a dozen people have been charged in connection with the Novi Sad incident, including former Transport Minister Goran Vesic – who resigned days after it happened.

Students have taken the lead with the protests, halting traffic daily and blockading universities for months.

Last Friday, many Serbians stayed off work in response to a call for a general strike, while in December an estimated 100,000 people attended a demonstration in Belgrade. Many smaller protests have been held in towns and cities across the country.

Tensions rose on Monday when, during a 24-hour blockade of the busiest road junction in the Serbian capital Belgrade, a female student was injured in clashes between the opposition and supporters of the governing party.

That evening, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said he would pardon students and university tutors who faced charges in connection with the protests and announced a major government reshuffle, saying he expected more than half of ministers to be replaced.

Vucevic, who is the leader of the governing Serbian Progressive Party, has been in office for less than a year.

He previously served as minister of defence and was the mayor of Novi Sad from 2012 to 2020, during early stages of the railway station’s reconstruction project.

Vucevic said Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric would fulfil “the most political of the demands of some of the most extreme protesters” and also resign.

Now the question is whether the departures will be enough to mollify the mostly young people who have been staging regular and increasingly elaborate demonstrations.

A change in the head of government is less significant than it might initially appear, because the real power in Serbia lies with Vucic.

Vucevic – a trusted ally of the president – said he hoped that his decision to quit as prime minister would encourage protesters to “calm down the passions and return to dialogue”.

But it may also pave the way for parliamentary elections, if a new prime minister is not appointed within 30 days of the National Assembly confirming the resignation.

Vucic has also been pushing the idea of an “advisory referendum” on his own role, saying that he would stand down if he lost that vote.

However, a change in power currently seems unlikely.

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party is well-organised – and international election monitors have noted that it dominates Serbia’s media space.

It comfortably won the most recent parliamentary elections just over a year ago. In contrast, the opposition remains fractured and without many allies in the media.

The reaction of the protesters may be crucial to what happens next.

If enough of them view the prime minister’s resignation as a significant development, then the recent run of demonstrations may fizzle out in a similar fashion to a number of previous anti-government movements.

If they decide to carry on protesting, the turbulence in Serbia may be set to continue.

“Despite efforts and continuous work to repair the faults, the electricity supply situation worsened. Currently, 127,000 metering points are without power,” distributor Elektroprivreda BiH said on Tuesday.

Elektrokrajina which covers the municipalities of the Serb entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, also announced that about 50,000 of its users are without power.

“All available field teams have been deployed and have been working since the early morning hours to repair the faults,” the company stated.

 In western Bosnia, a state of emergency was declared after severe weather blocked all entry and exit points to the municipality of Drvar, cutting off its 17,000 residents.

“The situation is extremely difficult. The snow keeps falling. People are stranded in the snow,” Jasna Pecanac, the president of the Drvar Municipal Council, told local media.

Throughout the Balkans, authorities issued travel warnings as snow drifts closed some major routes. Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia banned the movement of heavy vehicles and imposed limited traffic levels on affected roads.

Snowdrifts in some villages around Drvar were up to two metres (6.5 feet) high, and the heavy blizzard made clearing efforts more difficult. “We are requesting assistance for snow clearing. All available machinery is already in the field,” said Pecanac.

Due to heavy snowfall, classes have been cancelled in elementary schools in Banja Luka, the second-largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the administrative centre of Republika Srpska.

A day earlier, classes were also postponed in approximately 70 elementary and high schools in the Una-Sana Canton in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Parts of Bosnia also faced a total halt of railway traffic. The country’s state power company described the situation as “extremely hard” in some areas of the country. Heavy, moist snow brought down distribution lines which were hard to access, it said in a statement.

Regional N1 television reported dozens of vehicles were stuck in the snow for 10 hours in western Bosnia overnight before they could continue.

In Slovenia, the search for an injured Hungarian hiker missing in the Alps north of the capital, Ljubljana, since Sunday was suspended because of strong winds. Rescuers on Monday reached his female companion and transferred her to safety.

In central Croatia, a mountain rescue team used skis early on Tuesday to reach a man who was stuck in his car while heading to a hospital for dialysis. “We brought him there in time,” rescuer Dario Cindric said.

Yana was found in the Batagaika crater, the world’s largest permafrost (ground that is permanently frozen) crater, by people living nearby.The residents “were in the right place at the right time”, the head of the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory said.”They saw that the mammoth had almost completely thawed out” and decided to build a make-shift stretcher to lift the mammoth to the surface, said Maxim Cherpasov.”As a rule, the part that thaws out first, especially the trunk, is often eaten by modern predators or birds,” he told the Reuters news agency.But “even though the forelimbs have already been eaten, the head is remarkably well preserved”, he added.A researcher at the museum, Gavril Novgorodov, told Reuters the mammoth “probably got trapped” in a swamp, and was “thus preserved for several tens of thousands of years”.Yana is being studied at the North-Eastern Federal University in the region’s capital Yakutsk.Scientists are now conducting tests to confirm when it died.It is not the only pre-historic discovery to have been found in Russia’s vast permafrost in recent years – as long-frozen ground starts to thaw because of climate change.Just last month, scientists in the same region showed off the remains of a partial, mummified body of a sabre-tooth cat, thought to be just under 32,000-years-old.And earlier this year the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf were also uncovered.

The rally, one of the largest in recent years, was called on Sunday by university students and farmer unions and took place in Belgrade’s Slavija Square.

It began with 15 minutes of silence as a tribute to as many people killed after the concrete canopy of the recently renovated roof of Novi Sad station caved in on November 1.

Fourteen people, aged between six and 74, were killed that day and a 15th victim died in hospital weeks later.Prosecutors have arrested 13 people over the incident, including a government minister whose release later led to public scepticism about the honesty of the investigation.

Opposition leaders and the public have taken to the streets repeatedly, blaming the accident on shoddy construction resulting from government corruption and nepotism. The ruling coalition denies those charges, and Vucic has said those responsible must be held to account.

The protesters on Sunday evening switched on the lights of their mobile phones and shouted “Vucic, thief!” Others held up banners reading “We are all under the canopy” and “You have blood on your hands”.

“We came here to say ‘Stop’ to everything that has been happening since 2012 [when Vucic’s party took power],” said Aleksa, 30, an IT expert from Novi Sad. “We want to see an end to corruption and nepotism.”

Many are demanding that Serbia’s leader as well as the mayor of Novi Sad resign, and that those found responsible be prosecuted. They are also calling for legal proceedings to be dropped against demonstrators, and for the prosecution of those who attacked the protesters.

Serbia’s popular theatre and movie actors joined the protest, with actor Bane Trifunovic describing Sunday’s rally as “a festival of freedom”

Smaller rallies were also held in the cities of Nis and Kragujevac.

In a bid to calm the protests, authorities over the past weeks have promised various subsidies for young people. Students – and other citizens supporting them – have continued to protest, saying their demands have only been partially met.

Despite the ongoing demonstrations, Vucic on Sunday inaugurated a section of a newly built highway in central Serbia.

Vucic said he would not budge to opposition demands for a transitional government and accused his opponents of using students to try to seize power.

“We will beat them again,” he said. “They [the opposition] don’t know what to do but to use someone’s children.”

The weeks-long protests have occurred amidst general discontent with Vucic’s rule. He had said he wants to take Serbia into the European Union but has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic denied what he said were “baseless accusations” about Belgrade’s involvement in the incident, which occurred at approximately 7pm (18:00 GMT) on Friday near the town of Zubin Potok in the troubled north of the country, some 16km (10 miles) from the border with Serbia.

Somehow, we managed to fix the damage, arrest the suspects and confiscate a huge arsenal of weapons,” Svecla said during a livestreamed news conference on Saturday.

Police commander Gazmend Hoxha said those arrested “are suspected of inciting, organising and even executing these recent terrorist acts and in particular the one in the canal of Iber Lepenc”.

Hoxha said an initial investigation had shown that between 15-20kg (33-44 pounds) of explosives were used in the attack.

Kosovo police raided 10 locations, confiscating more than 200 military uniforms, six shoulder-fired rocket launchers, long weapons, pistols and ammunition, he added.

The police said most of the people arrested belong local Serb organisation Civilna Zastita (Civil Protection), which the government in Kosovo has declared as a “terrorist organisation”.

Earlier on Saturday, Serbia’s president denied the “irresponsible” claims made by the Kosovo government.

“Such unfounded claims are aimed to tarnish Serbia’s reputation, as well as to undermine efforts to promote peace and stability in the region,” Vucic said in a statement to the AFP news agency.

Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric had earlier suggested on X that the government of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti could be behind the blast, without providing evidence, and called for an international investigation.

Pictures from the scene published by local media showed water leaking heavily from one side of the reinforced canal, which runs from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo to the capital, Pristina, and also supplies drinking water.

Faruk Mujka, the head of water company Iber Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

He said the water supply must be halted to fix the problem as soon as possible, given the disruption in supplies to the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), the country’s main power provider.

“Serbia unequivocally demands responsibility for the perpetrators of this reckless attack,” Djuric posted on social media platform X.

Serbia was ready to provide financial and technical support to repair the damage to the canal, he said, “demonstrating our commitment to the welfare of all people in the region, regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation”.

Earlier on Friday, Kosovo police had increased security measures after two recent attacks in which hand grenades were hurled at a police station and municipality building in northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbs live. It was not clear if the incidents were linked.

The United States embassy in Pristina condemned the “criminal attack”.

“We are monitoring the situation closely … and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible … are identified and held accountable,” it said in a statement on Facebook.

Aivo Orav, the European Union’s ambassador to Kosovo, said the alleged attack was already “depriving considerable parts of Kosovo from water supply”.

Independence for ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo came in 2008, almost a decade after a rebel uprising against Serbian rule.

But troubles have persisted, mainly in the north where the Serb minority refuses to recognise Kosovo’s statehood and still sees Belgrade as their capital.

Tensions have spiked in recent months, with Kurti’s government seeking to dismantle a parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Belgrade to serve Kosovo’s Serbs.

The incident occurred on Friday near the town of Zubin Potok in the troubled north of the country, about 16km (10 miles) from the border with Serbia, cutting the flow of water needed for the plants’ cooling systems and prompting fears that much of the country could be left without electricity by the weekend.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti immediately blamed Serbia, without providing evidence, describing the alleged assault as “a terrorist act” carried out by “professionals” working in “gangs” directed by its northern neighbour who were targeting “critical infrastructure”.

Serbia on Saturday condemned the blast, Foreign Minister Marko Djuric denying what he called “premature accusations” that are “a deliberate diversion”, as he suggested the involvement of Kurti’s government, also without providing evidence.

Pictures from the scene published by local media showed water leaking heavily from one side of the reinforced canal, which runs from the Serb-majority north of Kosovo to the capital, Pristina, and also supplies drinking water.

Faruk Mujka the head of water company Iber Lepenci, told local news portal Kallxo that an explosive device was thrown into the canal and damaged the wall of a bridge. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

He said the water supply must be halted to fix the problem as soon as possible, given the disruption in supplies to the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), the country’s main power provider.

“Serbia unequivocally demands responsibility for the perpetrators of this reckless attack,” Djuric posted on social media platform X.

Serbia was ready to provide financial and technical support to repair the damage to the canal, he said, “demonstrating our commitment to the welfare of all people in the region, regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation”.

 Earlier on Friday, Kosovo police had increased security measures after two recent attacks in which hand grenades were hurled at a police station and municipality building in northern Kosovo where ethnic Serbs live. It was not clear if the incidents were linked.

The United States embassy in Pristina condemned the “criminal attack”.

“We are monitoring the situation closely … and have offered our full support to the government of Kosovo to ensure that those responsible … are identified and held accountable,” it said in a statement on Facebook.

Aivo Orav, the European Union’s ambassador to Kosovo, said the alleged attack was already “depriving considerable parts of Kosovo from water supply”.

Independence for ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo came in 2008, almost a decade after a rebel uprising against Serbian rule.

But troubles persist, mainly in the north where the Serb minority refuses to recognise Kosovo’s statehood and still sees Belgrade as their capital.

Tensions have spiked in recent months, with Kurti’s government seeking to dismantle a parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Belgrade to serve Kosovo’s Serbs.