New elections coming?

Mass protests rage in Serbia, Vucic backs down

A huge crowd of people marched through Belgrade on Saturday.

(Bild: APA/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic is coming under increasing pressure due to the mass protests in his country. The entire city center of Belgrade was occupied on Saturday. It was therefore not even possible to determine their exact number.

On November 1 last year, the station canopy in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 15 people. After students from the Belgrade faculty were attacked by functionaries of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has been in power since 2012, during a traffic blockade in memory of the accident victims, all state universities across the country were blockaded at the end of November. This has continued ever since. The huge mass protests are putting the government under increasing pressure.

"We will have to change and learn a lot," declared Vucic on Saturday evening after the large-scale protest called by students in Belgrade city center was abruptly interrupted. In his TV address, Vucic played down the number of participants based on information from the security services: he spoke of 88,000 to 107,000 participants. The non-governmental archive of public rallies, on the other hand, stated that between 275,000 and 325,000 or "even more" supporters of the student protests had gathered in Belgrade.

A gigantic crowd marched through Belgrade on Saturday.

(Bild: APA/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

This aerial view shows protesters holding up their cell phones to light up the night sky in memory of the victims of the Novi Sad roof collapse.

(Bild: APA/AFP/DJORDJE KOSTIC)

Sudden panic broke out
The students declared their rally over after panic broke out among a large group of demonstrators shortly after 7pm. The cause of the panic could not be determined on the spot. Military expert Aleksandar Radic and former Chief of General Staff Zdravko Ponos attributed the outbreak of panic to the use of a sound cannon, which the Serbian police are said to have had for a good two years. It has never been used before. Vucic rejected these claims as a "despicable lie".

The police cordoned off the area around parliament.

(Bild: APA/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

New elections no longer ruled out
Serbia's president indirectly held out the prospect of early parliamentary elections on Saturday evening. In his opinion, the large rally had shown that the citizens wanted to change their authorities through elections. A few weeks ago, he had ruled out new elections.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic submitted his resignation on January 28. However, the parliament has not yet confirmed his resignation.

Students demand disclosure of all documents
The students had demanded four points. Among other things, the entire documentation on the renovation of the station building in Novi Sad should be published. Even though the authorities have published thousands of documents so far, according to experts at Belgrade University, crucial documents are still missing. The documents in question are those that point to corruption. According to the cost estimate, the renovation work, which took a good two years, was to cost around 3.5 million euros. However, the final cost of the renovation work amounted to 15 million euros. The station was officially opened to traffic in July 2024, although it had not yet received any approval. After the accident, it was once again declared a construction site.