The Belgrade-based Komuna agency, which booked the Stones in the Serbian capital, said the group felt that their safety could be at risk after the March 12 slaying of pro-democracy premier Zoran Djindjic.

Maksa Catovic, Komuna’s chief manager, said on the phone the band informed the agency that the concert was off only days after Djindjic was killed.

Komuna, backed by the Serbian government and some Western embassies, then tried to persuade them to change their mind but lawyers for the group “informed us today that the concert is definitely canceled,” Catovic said.

Serbian authorities declared a state of emergency after Djindjic was killed and launched a major sweep against an underworld gang they accused of masterminding the slaying. The emergency measures were abolished in April, but tensions still persist.

The concert was to be held Aug. 2, as part of a 22-city Stones tour that started in Boston in September.

The Stones performance would have been the first ever in Serbia – a former communist Yugoslav republic, which faced years of isolation in the past decade under ex-President Slobodan Milosevic.