The rally on Saturday in the capital, Belgrade, came as protests have spread to towns around the country and have drawn increasingly insistent calls that President Aleksandar Vucic step aside.

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.