Serbia Arrests 11 Over Hate Attacks; Russia Accused

Serbian police have arrested 11 people accused of hate-motivated acts in France and Germany between April and September 2025, including placing pigs' heads near mosques, defacing Jewish sites and throwing green paint on the Holocaust Museum and synagogues, posting inflammatory stickers and leaving “concrete skeletons” at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. Belgrade said the arrested are Serbian nationals and members of a 14-person group; a key organizer allegedly trained the group and remains on the run, reportedly acting on instructions from a foreign intelligence service that Serbia has not named. French prosecutors and other observers have pointed to probable foreign interference in the campaign, with many accusing Russia of seeking to stoke social tensions. The arrests come amid a broader EU-observed spike in antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents linked to heightened tensions over the war in Gaza.