Serbian protests escalate as students demand early vote
Following a demonstration reportedly bringing together more than 140,000 people in central Belgrade on Saturday, student representatives declared the government 'illegitimate' and issued an "ultimatum": call snap elections by 9 pm that night.
The deadline passed without a response, and clashes with police ensued, resulting in injuries on both sides.
Just a few hours later, the Gazela motorway bridge, the main arteries of Belgrade, and all major access routes to the Serbian capital were blocked by spontaneously erected barricades.
The movement then spread across the rest of the country from Sunday to Monday night, before police began dismantling the blockades in the morning.
Vučić on Monday dismissed the blockades as 'terrorist activity." The statement has done little to slow the protest movement, which is organising through social media and advocating for mobile barricades while avoiding direct confrontation with police.
By Tuesday, disruptions were ongoing in Zemun, Savski Venac, and across several other parts of the capital, according to an interactive map updated by the demonstrators.
Offices of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have also been targeted with rubbish. Last January, Prime Minister Miloš Vučević was forced to resign after SNS activists violently attacked students. But the new cabinet appointed in April has largely recycled ministers who were already in office.
Students have been challenging Serbia's highly authoritarian President, Aleksandar Vučić, and denouncing official corruption ever since the roof of Novi Sad's recently renovated railway station collapsed on 1 November 2024, killing 16 people. The Russians are back As is often the case when protests catch the Serbian authorities off guard, Vučić has been able to count on a small boost from the Kremlin. Over the weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West against instigating a 'colour revolution' in Serbia.
That statement came despite last month's diplomatic spat, when Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) accused Belgrade of exporting arms to Ukraine through third countries.
On Monday, Vučić did not fail to thank his 'Russian friends' for their understanding, just after he announced the 'suspension' of all Serbian arms exports abroad.
Whether or not the idea of a Western-backed colour revolution bears any resemblance to reality is beside the point. The Serbian regime enjoys the support of Paris, Berlin, and Brussels – all of whom are wary of fresh instability in the Balkans.
If this was not enough, Vučić ultimately knows how to turn to the East whenever pressure builds at home.
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