Why are students in Serbia protesting?
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The Novi Sad railway station in Serbia is large, grey and modern. It was renovated in July last year, but in November, part of its concrete roof came crashing down on the people sitting on the shady benches on the street below.

Fifteen people were killed and it was a national tragedy for Serbia. Many students have blamed the government for the collapse. They've been protesting for accountability and against what they see as government corruption. No one has been held criminally accountable, which is unacceptable. What we're living in right now is a dictatorship of the ugliest kind. Fifteen innocent people got killed due to corruption.

These protests have brought the country to a standstill. On Monday, they blocked access to Serbia's public TV station RTS, claiming the broadcaster was siding with the government of President Aleksandar Vucic. So today, you're going to hear from young people in Serbia about why they're angry and find out how things are looking for the country's leader. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service. What in the World

Well, here to tell us more is Slobodan Maricic from BBC Serbian. Hello. Hello, hi.

The trigger for these protests that we're seeing now was the incident in November when the Novi Sad railway station roof collapsed. Why was that so significant? Well, the obvious answer is because of the death of 15 people. But I think there is much more to it because, for example, when the canopy collapsed, I went to Novi Sad and I've talked with a lot of people from Novi Sad since then.

And everyone keeps saying the same thing, which is: "It could have been any of us. It could have been my mother, my brother, my sister, my daughter. It could have been any of us." Because between Novi Sad and the Serbian capital of Belgrade recently have been opened the first fast railway and a lot of people, and I'm saying thousands and thousands, have been traveling

between two cities. Has there been any accountability? Has anyone been found to be responsible for what happened? Well, not yet. We've seen several people arrested. One of them is the former Minister of Infrastructure, but the investigation is still ongoing.

That is the reason why thousands and thousands of people have been protesting for four months. Right now they are being led by the students of the universities in Serbia. They have four demands. The first demand is for the government to publish all the documents about the reconstruction of the canopy that have collapsed.

They also demand that all those who have been attacking students be held responsible for that and that all the students that have been arrested because of the protests get liberated. The last demand is the increase of the state finance to the high education. Vucic and the government officials have been saying

numerous times that all the demands have been fulfilled and that they sort of don't know why are the students protesting. They have been angry, they have been taking to the streets, they've been marching across the country. What is the latest with these protests? Tell me about how some of it has just upped a notch in the last few days. We've seen basically daily protests

all across Serbia. In the last couple of days we've seen students blocking the public broadcast building because they're dissatisfied with how they reported about them for almost four months. The reason for that was also a statement and the interview of the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić

during which the public broadcaster journalist used the word mob when she was talking about the protests. And on Monday, he gave a TV interview, which many protesters have described as interesting.

inflammatory. What exactly did he say? Well, he had a combative tone. He was dismissing the protests as the work of foreign agents, claiming they were a part of a larger conspiracy to destabilize Serbia. The same sort of stance we could hear from him a lot in the recent times, which have been described by many as the biggest

political crisis in Serbia since 2012 when he came to power. Let's pause for a moment and hear from some of those young protesters now. My name is Nina. I am a medical student from Nis. I am at the protest in Serbia because I want a just state for everyone. I want to live in a country where there are no privileged people, where we are all equal and where those not in the ruling party have equal opportunities.

I want institutions to function and the guilty to be held accountable. My name is Vladimir, I am 22 years old and I am a student living in Novi Sad. And I am protesting because I want to live in a safer country, a country without corruption and a country with a much higher level of democracy.

I'm Isidora, I'm 23 years old, I am from a village near Pančevo, near Belgrade. There are no job opportunities, no prospects for young people and this corruption has led to many lives being lost. It's just awful living in this kind of climate in Serbia right now. I'm Milica, I'm 25 years old from Belgrade.

I was at every protest in every city. It was magical to be in Novi Sad where it all happened. It felt like a celebration of democracy, a display of strength within us. The protest gave me back the pride I had in my country, the love for my flag and anthem because of the students who allowed me to hope that things can get better and that we can do better.

Slobodan, these student protests have also turned violent. Let me just add that the protests themselves are peaceful, but there has been violence used against the students. What has happened and what have the authorities said about that? Well, we haven't seen clashes between students and the police. As you said, the protests have been peaceful and violent.

the students are always emphasizing how they only want peaceful protests. But on several occasions, they were attacked during those protests. Two or three times they were attacked. They were sort of, cars were ran into them during their blockade of the streets. And on one occasion at the city of Novi Sad, they were attacked by policemen.

baseball bats. The man who did it came out of the building of the Serbian Progressive Party, which arose the country and the day later the prime minister Miloš Vučević resigned because of the violence and the whole pressure of the protests.

At the centre of all this is President Aleksandar Vucic. He has led his party, the Serbian Progressive Party, to a series of victories in parliamentary elections dating all the way back to 2012. Why has his party been so appealing? Why have they won?

The shortest answer is that they are the catch-all party. They have members from both the left wing and the right wing. They have been accused of being also a populist party. A lot of the opposition claim that his success has more to do with their domination of Serbia's media and its state institutions than its policies, including, of course, RTS, the national TV station, which was

stormed by protesters. How has the TV station responded to allegations of being biased towards the country's leader? The RTS have been attacked for years and years by the opposition and now the students that they have been reporting only in favour of Vucic and the Serbian Progressive Party. But at the same time, whenever they do publish

anything more than just a couple of minutes. They also get attacked by the Serbian Progressive Party and Vucic, saying that they are working for the opposition. How has Vucic himself responded to this? After the canopy collapsed, he sort of announced...

huge battle against corruption. For example, the Transparency International have in their latest report said that Serbia is the third country in Europe when it comes to corruption after Bosnia and Herzegovina and Belarus. So he sort of promised to fight that. Several people have been arrested, but they were mostly low-ranked

he denies all the accusations when it comes to the public broadcaster. And this

tension that has been bubbling away for months, actually has been bubbling over, you could say, has also reached Serbia's National Assembly. There was a slightly bizarre incident, wasn't there, where MPs were setting off smoke bombs and throwing eggs. What happened there? I was there. I mean, I've seen a lot of MPs just running through the halls coughing with swollen red eyes.

from what appeared to be a tear gas or a pepper spray. That was the first regular session of the Serbian parliament in 2025. In the shortest answer, the opposition MPs wanted to stop the session, saying that parliament can only debate about the student demands.

These protests started with students, but they have got much bigger and they now include people of all ages from all walks of life. Now you're going to hear from Constructor, who's a popular Serbian singer, and she's got a large following among young people. She tells us why they've been so effective at leading these protests and inspiring others to join in.

They are media savvy and use modern communication channels most effectively. They collectively and clearly issue statements about their decisions, about their planned actions and views. And in doing so, they have gained the status of authority and leadership in this protest.

One very important and emancipatory aspect of these student protests has been the introduction of plenums. Students make all decisions at faculty plenums, which are held daily, and then align their decisions at university-wide plenum and mega plenum that includes all universities in Serbia. And this is direct democracy in practice,

As for the actions still now, we have witnessed marches to the cities where protests are planned. In these marches, students walk hundreds of kilometers, activating the people along the route. These marches build solidarity with locals hosting students in their homes, taking care of them and showing support.

The student blockades have also inspired boycotts of major retail chains and general strikes. And this affected economic activity on those days.

Slobodan, Vucic has faced several other protest movements over the years and they've always fizzled out without really having an effect, without dislodging him or his party. Do you think that this current movement is going to be more difficult for him? Well, they are more difficult for him because of the students' tactics. They don't have a one leader or

one face of the protest. They all organize everything as a group, which means that no one can be sort of attacked from the pro-government media. And also, as I've talked with several professors here,

It's easy to be with the students. I mean, they are young, smart people. The public see them positively. And these protests have already shaken Serbian politics to their core. I mean, we've heard how the prime minister Vucic resigned earlier. Do you think that Vucic will also step down? He said that he will never step down without elections.

Slobodan, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. No problem. Thank you. This story is fast moving and a major rally is being organised for this Saturday. Here's a final thought from one protester who asked us not to use his name to protect his safety.

The atmosphere at the protests is very powerful. I've seen tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people united and determined to protest their deep frustration. There's a mix of hope and anger, there's lots of chants for justice, and there are lots of moments of solidarity that remind us all that we're not alone in this fight. Unfortunately, we have also seen attempts to suppress our voices, but still, we stand together because we know that this matters.

You can find all the latest on this on the BBC News website. That is it for today. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Hannah Gelbart. You've been listening to What In The World from the BBC World Service.