Muslims pray on a street in front of a destroyed illegally built mosque at Zemun Polje district in Belgrade, Serbia. | REUTERS/Marko Djurica

After local authorities demolished a mosque on the outskirts of Belgrade on May 26, Muslims pray on a street in front of a destroyed mosque in the following week.

On Thursday, the authorities attempted the demolition of the building but withdrew after protests by Muslims from the neighbourhood, mainly members of the Roma (Gypsy) minority. Early on Friday, they returned with the police escort and tore down much of building.

In the following week, Muslims pray on a street in front of a destroyed mosque at Zemun Polje district in Belgrade, Serbia.

Belgrade's top Islamic cleric, Mufti Muhamed Jusufspahic, said the Islamic community would protest to the Serbian president.

"We are unpleasantly surprised as this happened on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan," Jusufspahic told Reuters.

In the Serbian capital of around 1.6 million, there are about 20,000 practising Muslims and only one mosque, which was built in 1575 when the Balkans were ruled by Ottoman Turks.

"The authorities flexed muscles on the poor ... other religious communities are building their places of worship unimpeded," he said.

Muslims prepare carpets for praying on a street in front of a destroyed illegally built mosque at Zemun Polje district in Belgrade, Serbia.

Serbia is home to around 230,000 Muslims or 3.1 percent of the total population, mostly concentrated in the southwestern Sandzak region that borders Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro.

The Balkan country is a candidate for European Union membership, but before it joins the bloc it must improve the rule of law and the rights of religious and ethnic minorities.