Everything started on November 1st, 2024. The government had just announced the renovation of Novi Sad train station, Serbia’s second biggest city. Located 100 kilometres north of Belgrade, the renovation was supposed to help connect cities in the country. The crash of the station left 16 stuck under the rubbles, leading to national grief. Although Belgrade is over an hour away by car, Belgradians remember the event as if it was yesterday: “I was sitting in my apartment, chatting with friends. As I scrolled through social media, I saw multiple posts about the crash. Then, I saw the uncensored video of the crash on Instagram, without any trigger warning”, says *Branko, a 22-year-old student.
It took no longer than ten days for Novi Sad students to organize a protest: “Many universities started blocking the streets, but the faculties were not exactly coordinated. Most of it was done in support of Novi Sad students”, Branko recalls. The goals were different, with Novi Sad students requesting justice for the crash of the train station. Branko says it was “confirmed” that students were beaten up by police forces, despite peacefully protesting. Soon enough, all major faculties “blockaded the building”, in an attempt to “stop classes”.
Vasilije, another student from Belgrade, remembered that protests did not aim to take out Aleksandar Vučić’s government in the first weeks: “Our intention was not to stage anti-government protests. We requested transparency for the renovation works of the Novi Sad train station, but the provided documents by the government were always incomplete”. The problem is that the documents would never be published, and 23-year-old Belgrade psychology student Aleksandr did not think twice about the reason: “They cannot release these documents because it would incriminate them. The architecture faculty read the documents provided by Vučić, and they were nonsensical”.
If the first demand concerned transparency, the second major request concerned the accountability of top officials: “Some of the masked men who harassed students in the protests should be arrested, especially if they are linked with the reigning party.” This demand was only partially met, further angering the students: “Some of them were fired from the party, but they were never incriminated. This is what happens when you control everything”.
During the protests, peaceful protesters have been arrested, without any proof of a criminal activity. The third request by the students demanded the criminal record to be wiped out, given they weren’t guilty of any criminal act. Aleksandr recalls this as another request which was only partially met: “The government tried to make a deal with us, and released some of the arrested protesters, but they never erased their criminal record”.
Aleksandr, Vasilije, and Branko were clear about one thing: a lack of competence in every ministry is the biggest issue in Serbia. Aleksandr says that “We always have the same ministers, but they switch their positions. One day they were the minister of traffic, and before that they were the ministers of another department. It is impossible to be an expert in all fields.” Branko agreed, reminding that Vučić has been in the government for over two decades, already serving as the Minister of Information under Slobodan Milošević, whose government also led to the biggest protests in Serbia’s history. At the time, Vučić privatised all media, leading to a lack of media freedom as his political allies owned all major media channels. Since then, Vučić has served in different positions, both as a Prime Minister and then as President. A report published by Serbian media outlet n1info.rs looked at how often Vučić appeared on national television throughout 2024: the findings are shocking. In the space of 11 months, Vučić made 322 appearances. As a matter of fact, as the writer arrived in Belgrade to interview Aleksandr, Vasilije and Branko, he turned the TV on in his hotel, and Vučić was the first appearance on TV.
Vasilije, who studied traffic engineering, reminded that Serbia has experts to avoid infrastructural catastrophes, but their advice is often ignored. Belgrade mayor Aleksandar Šapić has regularly tried to transform crossing to roundabouts, when traffic engineers explicitly told him how obsolete it would be from a logistical point of view. Branko reminds this is one of the main reasons why the Serbian population is angry: “The Novi Sad train station renovation was not finished. We know there is a discrepancy between allocated funds, and the claim numbers by Vučić”. Another reason is the lack of leadership: “He was there to celebrate the ceremony of the opening of the station, but now they try to claim they had nothing to do with the renovation”, deplores Vasilije.
Branko reminds that this is not the first time that happens: “They build new buildings in Belgrade, where people live. But in reality, it is unfinished because they do not have the license as they lack the technical checks. It is not only in Belgrade or in Novi Sad, it is a common practice across the country.” He did not step back against the government: “We do not care that they stole millions – do your corruption, but do not kill us in the process.” Aleksandr has no doubts about Vučić’s behavioural issues: “He has mixed diseases. As a psychology student, there is no doubt he is a pathological liar with a superiority complex, like Napoléon.If there is no camera, he would prefer killing all of us”.
Serbs are used to protests, but after over 13 years of Vučić’s regime, protestors have nothing to lose: “We used to live in fear, and this is what is different about these protests: the mental resilience. We are not scared anymore”. Vasilije remembers the general protest on March 15th, when over 1,000,000 Serbs came to Belgrade, from all cities across Serbia: “People came from all directions. When we arrived in the center, people greeted us from their apartments, waving [Serbian] flags, we felt as if we were heroes. A lady came to me and cried on my shoulder.” This protest marked the largest protests in Serbia’s history, even greater than those demanding the resignation of Slobodan Milošević in 2000.
