Corruption and abuse of power is the common theme of the Serbian protests and all the protests in South Eastern Europe 

K.M. is a Serbian labour and civil society activist who has been participating in the Serbian protests for the last six months.

You are taking part in the Serbian protests. What are your experiences and impressions?

I have been participating in various protests in Serbia for more than a decade. What distinguishes these protests from others is their unexpected longevity and the mass public support that has accumulated over time. We have now entered the 5th month of protests and blockades.

Immediately after the Novi Sad railway station roof collapsed, killing 16 people on 1 November, people took to the streets to commemorate the victims and express their anger, calling it “murder” rather than just another “tragic accident”, as government officials described it. Since then, the movement has only grown, culminating on 15 March 2025 in the largest protest in Serbian history, with some sources estimating that at least 325,000 people, if not half a million, took part.

As the anti-corruption protests spread, students initiated blockades of educational institutions, which quickly spread to more than 40 faculties and many secondary schools across the country. Soon after, students called for a national strike, which was joined by other professions such as lawyers, actors and farmers. You could say that all these events had a significant snowball effect, with more and more people joining the movement every day. These protests can be interpreted as a logical conclusion to the 12 years of Aleksandar Vučić’s rule. It is a way of overcoming collective trauma. It was remarkable to see the streets of smaller towns in central and southern Serbia overflowing with people of all ages and professions, as such large protests had rarely, if ever, been held there before. There is power in numbers and it seems that people are no longer afraid to speak out against the abuses of this regime.

Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of this mass movement is the great sense of enthusiasm, solidarity and unity among the demonstrators – it is almost as if you can feel that we as a society are on the brink of a great change.

Why are students playing such an important role in these protests? What is the reason for their mobilisation and what are their demands?

The event that triggered the mass anti-government protests was the collapse of the roof of a newly reconstructed railway station in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, which resulted in the deaths of 16 people. After the incident, the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, stated that the canopy had not been reconstructed and denied any responsibility for the tragedy.

However, the same minister attended the reopening ceremony of Novi Sad railway station in July that year, apparently concluding months of reconstruction work that had cost Serbian taxpayers more than 16 million euros. After the canopy collapsed, it was revealed that the reconstructed building had never been issued with an occupancy permit. In addition to local contractors, the failed project involved the French architectural firm Egis, which supervised the reconstruction, and the Chinese firm China Railway International Corporation, which was the main contractor.

The response of government officials immediately sparked public outrage, leading to the first of many protests under the banner ‘Corruption Kills’. Soon after, the students came up with a series of demands:

1. That all documents relating to the reconstruction of the station be made public and that all those responsible for the collapse of the canopy be prosecuted.

2. All those who attacked students and citizens during the protests must be investigated and punished.

3. The charges against the demonstrators arrested during the protests must be dropped.

4. A 20 per cent increase in the budget for state higher education institutions.

The universal nature of these demands is key to understanding why the student-led protests are so widely supported. When you think about it, they are actually asking for something basic and reasonable. At the heart of these demands are concepts such as ‘justice’, ‘accountability’ and ‘anti-violence’. By defining the demands in this way, the students have managed to attract people from all walks of life and from different sides of the political spectrum. The realisation that any one of us, or our loved ones, could have been in the place of those who lost their lives in the collapse of the canopy, while those responsible for the tragedy still walk free, is precisely what triggered such a strong emotional response in people and motivated them to act.

Another reason for the success of the student-led protests is the public’s general distrust of opposition parties and leaders. Students, and young people in general, are now emerging as a new subject on the political scene that people seem to trust because they are not ‘tainted’ by political affairs. In addition, students have officially renounced any form of association or cooperation with political parties.

We are in a situation where many countries in our region – Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia – are experiencing protests and political tensions. Why is our region experiencing such turmoil – just two months after Donald Trump entered the White House? To what extent is there a geopolitical dimension to the Serbian protests?

We are undoubtedly witnessing social unrest in many countries in the Balkans, but also on a global scale. These protests may have been triggered by different events, but in the end they all boil down to the same issues – corruption and abuse of power. There has been a lot of support for the students in Serbia from people in neighbouring countries. There have also been examples of international cooperation, with demonstrators from Turkey contacting students in Serbia to ask for advice on how to organise faculty plenums.

On the other hand, the European Union has remained largely silent on the issue. After a meeting with Aleksandar Vučić just a few days ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterated that “Serbia’s future lies in the EU”. Similarly, in a recent meeting with the Serbian leader, French President Emmanuel Macron discussed bilateral agreements with Vučić, while stating that he “wants Serbia to continue on its European path”. For many, it has become clear that the EU is willing to support an openly authoritarian leader if it benefits its future economic interests. The EU’s main focus is on the potential for lithium extraction from the Jadar Valley in western Serbia, which is believed to be one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe. Previous attempts by Rio Tinto to launch the Jadar project were blocked in 2021 by a series of mass protests dubbed the ‘Ecological Uprising’.

Anti-American and, by extension, anti-NATO sentiment remains strong in Serbia, not least because of the country’s recent history. Certain sections of the student movement have taken a hard line against NATO in particular, organising a protest to commemorate the victims of the 1999 bombing and opposing the demolition of the former military headquarters building, which was damaged in the bombing. The land on which the building stands was recently purchased by the investment company of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with plans to turn it into a luxury hotel-casino resort. So the student-led protests have indirectly (and sometimes inadvertently) positioned themselves as anti-globalist and anti-capitalist.

What will come out of these protests? Is there a party in the making? Are there new leaders emerging? Are there new media in which the protesters discuss their society?

From the beginning, the students have defined themselves as an entity that does not operate on the basis of hierarchy. There are no official leaders of the movement. They have insisted on using the mechanisms of direct democracy, such as regular assemblies in each faculty, where all decisions on future action are taken by vote. Some students have even chosen to refrain from using their names in public appearances and media interviews, identifying themselves only as members of their faculty collective, thus emphasising the need for a unified stance that is both hyper-focused on the issue at hand and unencumbered by differences in individual political and ideological beliefs.

Since the students’ methods contradict the assumptions under which Serbian electoral politics (mal)functions, such as a strict internal hierarchy in political organisations and a strong cult of personality, it is not surprising that their representatives have not yet announced the formation of a new political party from their ranks or any plans to do so.

The students have stated on several occasions that they are not interested in joining any political party and that they only want their demands to be met. They have even rejected President Aleksandar Vučić’s offer to negotiate, saying that their demands are beyond his jurisdiction and are directed at the institutions. In short, they want a democratic system with fully functioning and independent institutions.

However, by dissociating itself from all political parties, the movement may remain trapped in performing superficial politics and lose its potential for truly revolutionary change. Suggestions and calls for a political solution to the ongoing crisis have been made with increasing frequency, but have fallen on deaf ears, with no concrete action being taken so far. Recently, the Dean of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, who has been a staunch supporter of the student blockades from the beginning, reiterated the idea of a broad political front organised around the opposition to the regime and supported by both students and the general population.

The ongoing demonstrations in Serbia are in fact anti-government protests, even if the organisers do not want to describe them as such. It is clear to all the relevant social actors that it would be impossible to meet the students’ demands without simultaneously attacking the foundations on which the current government rests. The system has been reorganised to suit the interests of the ruling party and its leader, relying on corruption, manipulation, aggressive propaganda, coercion, violence and total control of all relevant institutions as a means of reproducing itself.

How do you assess the reaction of the authorities to these protests? Could you compare them with similar leaderless protests in Europe and the world – e.g. the Arab Spring in Egypt, the student and workers’ protests in Croatia and Bosnia more than 10 years ago, etc.?

So far, the reaction of the authorities has mainly focused on attempts to diminish and delegitimise the protests in the eyes of the Serbian public and, more importantly, in the eyes of the international community. The government-controlled news media are being used as the most effective mechanism to create a hostile political atmosphere in which students, education workers and demonstrators in general are easy targets.

Although we haven’t seen any form of outright police brutality against demonstrators, there have been many cases of violent attacks by individuals identified as loyal supporters of President Aleksandar Vučić. On several occasions, demonstrators were hit by cars that ploughed into crowds, while in January this year a group of hooded men armed with baseball bats attacked students in a secluded alley in Novi Sad, leaving one girl with a broken jaw. The most recent was the knife attack on the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, Natalija Jovanović, who later declared that the knife-wielder was in fact the President himself, naming him as the main instigator of social tension and violence in the country. The perpetrators of these attacks have still not been prosecuted, demonstrating once again the authorities’ unwillingness to meet one of the key demands of the student-led protests.

Shortly after the collapse of the roof, the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, resigned from his post. This was followed in January this year by the resignations of both the mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Đurić, and the Serbian prime minister, Miloš Vučević. These can be interpreted as desperate attempts at damage control aimed at de-escalating tensions, as it is clear that the real power lies elsewhere.

In some cases, groups of hooligans have infiltrated the protests, which has now become a well-known tactic of the authorities to provoke violent incidents during peaceful demonstrations. This was the case with the demolition of the city council building in Novi Sad, which took place just a few days after the collapse of the roof, while citizens were calling for a gathering in the town square to commemorate the victims in silence.

In addition, there is evidence that the sonic weapon was used on 15 March 2025 during a 15-minute moment of silence at the largest protest ever held on the streets of Belgrade. This incident was particularly worrying as sonic cannons are widely known to be harmful to health. Since then, President Aleksandar Vučić and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić have denied the allegations. At the same time, there has been no significant reaction from the European Union on this issue either.

Despite their intention to intimidate, it seems that all these attempts only fuel the public revolt, with more people joining the protests every day.

Photo: The symbol of Serbian protests (source: K.M.)

Subscribe to Cross-border Talks’ YouTube channel! Follow the project’s Facebook and Twitter page! And here are the podcast’s Telegram channel and its Substack newsletter!

Like our work? Donate to Cross-Border Talks or buy us a coffee!

About The Author