Translated by Irene Cecchi
The recent installment of Donald Trump at the White House and the awaited ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel outshadowed another set of events in Serbia that shall not be forgotten.
The whole Country has been gripped by protests since November, after a mortal accident at the Novi Sad train station caused 15 deaths and two severely injured. In the second largest city of the country, on November 1st 2024, a canopy of the station collapsed during the renovation process that is part of a bigger plan concerning the Belgrado-Budapest line and that sees a consortium of Chinese, French and Hungarian companies in charge.
After the accident, grief events were organized during which participants demanded investigations and justice to the authorities, along with the Novi Sad’s mayor and Prime minister Vučević resignation. The violence against the demonstrators, mainly students, and the general rage for a tragedy that could have been avoided, lead to a big wave of protests that were missing in Serbia since after the Milošević era in the 90s.
In December 2024, the investigations led to the arrest of a dozen people, among them the former minister for public works Goran Vesić. But soon after, the protests grieving the victims got way bigger and shifted to demanding clarity on the physical aggressions to young demonstrators, with a clear political purpose mainly against corruption and public procurement management. So far, the biggest demonstration took place on December 23rd 2024 in Belgrad, when more than a hundred thousand people participated. Every day at 11:52 (time of the accident) more and more people gather in front of the government’s palace in Belgrad or at the Novi Sad city hall.
University students from all Serbian cities fostered and supported the protests by occupying faculties, obtaining the contributions also by some professors, leading to a total arrest of universities activity. Later on, also school teachers joined the protests, demanding better working conditions and salaries, with many schools that couldn't start the semester. Also other work sectors joined the purpose by organizing strikes and street blocks, up to the total strike that was called on January 24th 2025 and that saw the participation of companies, shops, factories, media, cultural institutions, syndicates, doctors, lawyers and farmers.
The Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić commented on the events disdainfully and accused the oppositions of manipulating students. Actually, as told by A. Antanasijević, a student at Belgrad’s University and journalist at Meridiano13, the strength of demonstrators lies in the fact that they managed to not include any political party, taking the distance from any political association or party. The demonstrations are, in fact, self-managed, without any leader or organization, making them difficult to control. Furthermore, the most recent demonstrations address a wider range of issues, like the rule of law and the Country international positioning, compared to the previous ones that were mainly focused on the event or the environment, becoming an actual challenge to Vučić power and his party.
The protests reached a first goal on January 25th when the President Vučić asked for all documents related to the collapse of the canopy in Novi Sad to be published. In the meantime, an Amnesty International report came out, stating that Serbian authorities would have installed a spyware called NoviSpy in demonstrators' phones once detained by the police using an Israeli software. Both the government and the alleged Israeli company denied using such technologies with the aim of accessing data, photos and conversations but the inspection of numerous cell phones prove otherwise, fostering even more protests.
After that, on January 28th the Prime Minister Vučević resigned and other concessions were granted to the demonstrators but they ensured that they will not stop until all their requests are satisfied. In fact, students announced a 80 kilometers march from Belgrade to Novi Sad, from January 30rd to February 1st when they will take part in big demonstrations there.
This was all addressed also at the European Parliament during the January plenary. Serbia is in fact committed to the accession negotiations process for over a decade now but the goal still seems far away because of Vučić strict relations with Moscow and his dismantling of democracy. According to some analysts, students started a war that put Vučić and his government in the center of the biggest crisis since he first arrived twelve years ago. But in order to succeed it’s fundamental that all Serbians join them.
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