site.btaSummer Reshapes Nine-Month Anti-Government Protests in Serbia

The summer season has brought a shift in the form and vigour of anti-government protests in Serbia that have been going or for nine months running after a concrete canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people.

The tragedy triggered a wave of outrage all over Serbia, and in late November students occupied over 60 faculties across the country and subsequently spearheaded the protests. The protesters blame the tragedy on corrupt practices that resulted in a shoddy repair of the railway station. They insist on the culprits to be held criminally and politically liable and on the holding of early parliamentary elections.  

The shift began after June 28, when several thousand people demonstrating in Belgrade clashed with police, and students, teachers and members of the public were arrested on a massive scale.

President Aleksandar Vucic then rejected the students' ultimatum on holding snap elections; in turn, the students called on the Serbian people to stage acts of civil disobedience.

In recent weeks, ever more citizens organizations have been taking to the streets, while a large part of the students started to sit for exams so that their year of study would not be cancelled.

Meanwhile, students were compelled to lift their occupations of various faculties across the country after the university administration argued that they were impeding a session of exams or the start of new admissions. 

The Education Ministry announced that it will not pay salaries to faculty members if classes are not resumed and the higher educational establishment do not operate at full capacity.

The students occupying the faculties in Novi Sad on Monday posted on Instagram a position on the clashes between citizens and supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Novi Sad over the weekend after Serbian flags appeared on facades in the city's Liman neighbourhood. 

The pictures of the facade flags were ordered by SNS and "are intended to foment divisions and groom suitable opponents," the Novi Sad students wrote.

"Suspicious characters gather together and paint the flag on other people's properties, trying to provoke a reaction from apartment owners or next-door neighbours. The idea is to generate the public image of the perfect enemy: someone hating the Serbian national flag and the Serbian state," the post reads.

The students called on citizens to refrain from engaging in verbal and physical altercations with SNS activities but to make video clips and keep them as evidence of unlawful painting of other people's properties.

In mid-July, students and members of the public launched protests in Belgrade, Novi Sad and other cities, chanting corruption accusations in front of the homes of government ministers and activists of the ruling SNS. 

Last week protesters also appeared in front of the weekend houses of Serbian National Assembly President Ana Brnabic and President Vucic.

The protests in the wake of the Novi Sad tragedy have enlisted massive support and emerged as the greatest challenge in Vucic's political career.

In May 2025, the students demanded early parliamentary elections and said they will back a list of non-party candidates enjoying public prestige, but will not be running for the legislature themselves.

In July, the students ignored an invitation from opposition parties to take part in a round-table discussion on amendments to election legislation to guarantee fair and democratic balloting.

Later on, the students said they rely on street pressure and doubt that election legislation can be revised, given that the SNN with its coalition partners commands a majority in the National Assembly.