Serbia protests

In Serbia, the mobilisation and popular protests against corruption and for justice for the victims of the collapse of the roof of the station in Novi Sad continue. A detailed account of the last few days

After the student demonstrations and the occupation of schools and faculties, student groups organised a general strike across the country on January 24, 2025, and on Monday 27 they blocked the Autokomanda hub, one of the main intersections in the capital Belgrade.

On Friday, January 24, Belgrade and many other cities in Serbia demonstrated against corruption and the lack of transparency in the government. The numbers  are impressive: about 55,000 people in Belgrade, 22,000 in Novi Sad, 10,500 in Niš and another 5,000 or so in Kragujevac, just to mention the most important cities.

The demonstrations continued the following day: Zrenjanin, Pančevo, Smederevo are the cities  that followed the general strike, while in Novi Sad, farmers joined the students, despite the police trying to prevent them from entering the city.

The protests, as announced, continued on Monday 27th when the “Autokomanda” was occupied by students who brought tents and field kitchens in order to guard the intersection. The occupation ended the next day at 10 am and there were no major incidents.

"Corruption kills”

The protests stem from the collapse of the roof of the newly rebuilt Novi Sad station and the attempts by the government and ruling parties to cover up the investigation.

The collapse triggered a series of protests in Novi Sad and  across the country that the Serbian government has so far failed to quell. The protests started at university faculties, many of which have been occupied since November, spread to high schools and are now involving the rest of society.

The participation in the protests between December and January was massive: 100,000 people in Slavija  at the end of December, 28,000 in front of the  Constitutional Court  in mid-January and over 50,000  a few days later in front of RTS, just to name the largest demonstrations in Belgrade.

Numerous protests have also taken place in the rest of Europe thanks to students studying abroad. The students are demanding transparency and justice for the victims of Novi Sad, respect for the Constitution and an end to the corruption. “Corruption kills” is one of the slogans of the protests.

Like wildfire

The protests are spreading to other groups: students have been joined by faculty, and last week a union of workers from EPS  (Serbia’s electricity company) gave its support to the students. Some judges , lawyers , NGOs, farmers , and media have announced that they will join the strike in open solidarity with the students.

A key moment was when some workers from the state TV station RTS displayed a banner  in support of the students protesting in front of their headquarters: after this, the state TV station began to regularly cover the students’ protests.

It should be noted, however, that the participation in the protests, although massive, often divides the various organisations: for example, only a part of the EPS union supports the students and only a minority of the judges. This indicates the existence of a vertical divide in Serbian society: although the protests are rapidly spreading, many trade associations and sectors of society are hesitant to openly take a stand against the government.

Proof of this is the fact that last Friday's general strike did not turn into a real "lockout": many businesses and offices remained open and operated regularly, despite the invitation to close.

The reaction of the majority parties and the first incidents

The reaction of the government and especially of the coalition of parties in power to the mounting protests has been vacillating, alternating the threat of the stick with the promise of the carrot, but without pushing in either direction: if on the one hand President Vučić has both implicitly threatened  students and promised lines of subsidised credit  for the purchase of apartments for young people, on the other hand the government has sent inspections  to schools and threatened teachers. The only effect has been to strengthen the students in their determination.

Numerous representatives of the parties in power have insinuated that the protests are part of a coloured revolution  and an external conspiracy, news that was promptly relaunched by the pro-government tabloids .

As if to reiterate this concept, banners with a red middle finger appeared on the bridges of Belgrade, on which was written “the response of the Serbian people to the coloured revolutions”. The middle finger was relaunched  by members of the SNS. The banners were “protected”: for each banner there was a guard who rudely pushed away anyone who wanted to remove it and in some cases it came to physical confrontation .

Even in this case, however, the only effect was associating a vulgar gesture with the name of the Serbian people. In the end, the Serbian leadership decided to organise a counter-meeting in Jagodina, where the idea (already presented two years ago) of a new popular movement was relaunched, which could become the lifeboat of President Vučić if the SNS were to lose popularity.

Finally, on Monday evening, President Vučić, along with Prime Minister Vučević and Speaker of the Parliament Brnabić, addressed  the country, declaring that the current climate does not benefit anyone and that they understood the students’ message and are ready for dialogue and to pardon the students who are on trial for the riots (however, a few hours later, in Novi Sad, some students were attacked  by unknown individuals with baseball bats).

Vučić also announced a massive cabinet reshuffle that will involve more than half of the ministers.

Incidents

In addition to physical clashes with “banner guards”, students and activists were also subjected to attacks  by unknown individuals  who, in some cases, were identified and arrested by the police.

The most serious incidents, however, occurred during student demonstrations, on two separate occasions, the first  in mid-January and the second  during the general strike on Friday, when cars literally mowed down a student and a stewardess: in both cases the victims were rushed to hospital with serious injuries at the party, but fortunately their conditions are rapidly improving.

After the arrest of those responsible, the prosecutor's office opened two cases of attempted murder. In total, CINS (Center for Investigative Journalism) counted about fifty incidents   throughout Serbia.

Law enforcement

Law enforcement has refrained from interfering with the student protests. The protests are organised with little warning and the students have their own security service which has so far operated very effectively. However, there are plainclothes police officers at the protests and their presence was noticed when they promptly arrested  the young woman who ran over the security officer in Novi Beograd on Friday.

While the police have maintained a discreet presence, the BIA, the Security and Information Agency, has most likely not remained idle. On Wednesday evening (January 22), plainclothes police officers arrested the 13 participants of an international seminar organised by the Erste Foundation .

Although the seminar was about fundraising for NGOs, the services apparently became suspicious and after taking the seminar participants to a police station they interrogated them for most of the night. The next day, the participants were expelled from Serbia for endangering national security. The expulsion was accompanied by a one-year entry ban to Serbia.

Among the 13 participants (from Croatia, Albania, Moldova, Czechia, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria and Romania) were five Croatian citizens. The action was condemned by human rights organisations  in Belgrad e and Zagreb and provoked a diplomatic protest  from Croatia and other European countries , which was followed by a sharp response from Serbian diplomacy .

While it is hard to imagine that the thirteen foreign citizens actually posed a threat to Serbia's security, given that the Erste Foundation has been organising such seminars since 2013, the arrest and expulsion support the thesis of the ruling parties that Serbia is the victim of an attempted color revolution by Croatia, a thesis that aims to unite the supporters of the ruling parties.

The next few days

The events in Serbia have not yet had much international coverage outside Serbia and even in Serbia, the Delegation of the European Commission has only expressed concern  about the accident in which the first student was hit and the expulsion  of NGO members.

Definitely not much if we consider that the basis of the student protests is the demand for justice and support for rule of law.

The next few days will be decisive: if the general strike on Friday 24 was not a real general lockout, the massive participation throughout Serbia suggests that the crisis will continue.

In this case, and after the disputed elections of 2023, it is difficult to go to early consultations, unless these elections are conducted by a transitional government that guarantees fair conditions for all participants.