Full Text: How Did Anger Over a Roof Collapse Trigger Serbia's Democratic, Student-Led Protests?
Their conversation recorded in April 2025 addresses the expanding wave of societal mobilisation in Serbia since November 2024, when a newly renovated railway station roof collapse killed 16 people in Novi Sad. With demands for investigating the culpability of high-ranking politicians being stonewalled by the government, the protests now threaten to shake the foundations of President Aleksandar Vucic's regime, as a student-led movement has recently demanded new elections.
The following is an edited excerpt of part 1 (of 2) of the conversation:
§
Ivanka Popovic (IP): Shalini, I'm grateful for the opportunity to present to a broader audience what is going on in Serbia because it's not getting enough attention.
Shalini Randeria (SR): Were you surprised that the collapse of the canopy could ignite such sustained protests all over the country? Or is it that the Novi Sad tragedy can be seen as the last straw, the anger against the cronyism of the Vucic regime?
IP: Novi Sad sparked the realisation that all of us are potential victims. It is the shock that no one is safe anywhere because of the shoddiness of the work that is being done all over Serbia, because of the mass corruption, because the money going into any construction is minimal compared to what is formally being invested.
The initial response was of deep sorrow and condolences to the families of the victims. Some students who were paying their respects were attacked by a group of hooligans that were later recognised to be active members of the ruling party. That was the trigger when the students said, enough is enough.
They drew back into their faculties. They blocked the buildings. They said they would not attend classes, and they came out with four requests. They wanted accountability for those who participated in the project of the Novi Sad reconstruction, accountability of those who attacked them, and of those who have been arresting peaceful protestors and students and jailing them and charging them with criminal charges. So, it was the students' cry for a normal functioning of the state with rule of law and independent institutions. These demands have been massively supported by the population.
The students have kept it a nameless protest just to keep themselves safe from persecution. They don't want to give a face to the protest, they want to have everyone participating in it.
SR: But it isn't easy to mobilise citizens in Serbia as the Vucic regime maintains complete control of the media. Could you describe how the students have nevertheless managed to spread their message so successfully throughout the country? And how did they bridge the urban-rural divide to garner the support of villagers, farmers?
IP: Initially, everything that the students were doing was only covered by the independent press and media [which] in Serbia do not have national coverage. The media with national coverage are controlled by the government. People outside of Belgrade in smaller towns and villages didn't know what was going on.
This changed when the students started marching from town to town taking the local roads and speaking to villagers to explain what they were doing and why. And they were cheered on and very well received.
The turning point was when some of the students went home for the Christmas-New Year break. Many of their parents or grandparents, who only watched state-controlled TV, didn't know what was going on or were disturbed that their children were engaged in anti-state activities. But when the students started elaborating, things started to change.
And when these marches started, a broader base of support was developing. And it wasn't just Belgrade and Novi Sad that were protesting, but also other cities with universities, smaller towns. You really had a mass uprising of discontent. And this was not something led by opposition political parties. It was truly a citizens' movement asking for change.
SR: Remarkably, the momentum of protests has been sustained undeterred despite severe, brutal repression by government forces. What has this broad countrywide mobilisation been able to achieve during the past half a year?
IP: Six months into this, none of the demands of the students have been met. There have been only some cosmetic moves by the government. The ruling party has also stooped to violence. Students have been beaten, they have been rammed by moving cars and threatened and there have been some very serious injuries. A young female student was bludgeoned with a baseball bat; this did provoke the resignation of the Serbian prime minister.
Now in April there is a new government, but it is just a continuation of the old. But it is even more clear in its message that no dissent will be tolerated. Prolonged protests are becoming an embarrassment to the president because the students have clearly stated that the president is acting outside of what he's legally [allowed] as president to do.
SR: Nevertheless, the demonstrations have only grown in size and number. In March alone, there were some 400 protests across Serbia and the largest demonstration in Belgrade on March 15 saw more than 300,000 people on the streets demanding justice, transparency and punishment for the culprits.
IP: It was a very peaceful protest that was interrupted by use of a sonic weapon. The exact origins of this sonic weapon are not clear. There has been a really farcical explanation by the government; the forensics have been done by the Russian FSB, the security services. And these security services have claimed that no sonic weapon was used, but that this was a very well-orchestrated group performance using mobile phones. This is nonsense. More than 3,000 people have reported either psychological or medical issues after this incident.
SR: Let's situate the current protests in a broader historical context. Serbia has a long tradition of societal mobilisation, and also of student protests. The current wave is being compared to the student-led protests in 1968. And then again in the late 1990s, Serbia saw mass rallies by students against the Milosevic regime. It took almost three years to topple the Milosevic regime and send him to trial for war crimes to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Could you talk about this longer history of student-led protests and the role of universities in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia as focal points of social protests? Is there anything distinctive about the current protests?
IP: You're right that there is a tradition. Once in a generation or a generation and a half, the students play a very important role in societal events in Serbia. In 1968, this was not a reflection of what was going on in Paris or Berlin. It was something that was related to a call for justice within a socialist regime.
And this was a very important time. It also formed a generation of young people with open minds. They were the parents of those who demonstrated in the nineties against the Milosevic regime. There the trigger was election fraud. Opposition parties and the students together eventually brought about the change in October 2000.
The students have not currently pointed toward irregularities in elections. Students are talking about potential elections and what we have seen in the past few elections. Vucic likes to hold elections every two years. He shows that he's in control and that he has majority support.
But it's also a practical exercise because every time his grip and control of the electoral machine are becoming stronger. He has gone deeply into the electoral software where he can control the voting lists. He also has very good control of the polling stations. And we have seen a massive movement of voters within Serbia where people are being reinstated in another municipality. He has also been importing voters from Bosnia, from Montenegro, giving them citizenship, so they can vote.
There has been a lot of manipulation, and some investigative NGOs realised the extent of how this scheme of rigging elections functions. And that's why any future election in Serbia is pointless unless we have a significant change in conditions of voting. Vucic will allow elections only if he's sure that he can win them.
SR: Let me turn to the question of what university life has been like over the last six months. Decision-making on the course of protests by students has been the result of open discussions in a very democratic fashion in various faculties across universities in the country. Could you describe the daily assemblies, where decisions are being made?
IP: They're practicing direct democracy through the operation of a plenum, which means that students gather, they discuss and make majority decisions. But because each has the right to speak and propose, these meetings take a long time. It's a slow process for making decisions and sometimes there is a time limit to these protests. If there's an incident where it's very important that the students should go to the national TV station and block it, they will be there within hours.
But in order to make these political articulations, these are really long, tedious talks. First at the faculty level, then at the university level and if we're going to make a unanimous decision at the national level, that means amongst universities there must be agreement.
So, the students are going through a wonderful education in democracy and active citizenship in life. I think it's commendable, it's wonderful. But I would say for some of the citizens, it's nerve-wracking because people who are older, with more experience, who remember the previous protests and the fact that they were not successful are really worrying.
SR: If I understand correctly, normal life in universities has come to a standstill. Students have received a lot of support from faculty members and have been blocking faculties at state universities from functioning. And it seems as if this academic year may have to be written off. Schoolteachers also supported the countrywide protests. And unsurprisingly, the government has declared the students 'foreign agents' to discredit them.
Could you say something about harsh punitive measures imposed by the government on faculty members? It looks as if this will also turn into a very important struggle for academic freedom and for the autonomy of universities.
IP: Universities in Serbia have played very important roles in societal changes. This ruling party is anti-knowledge, anti-intellectual, anti-elite. They would like a very submissive population. In primary and secondary schools, you have short-term contracts. And there have been cuts in salaries for teachers, but they have been carrying this with great dignity. But it's not easy for months to receive no salary or only part of the salary.
And this has also happened now with the university, but in a way that cuts into the essence of what a university is. The government has passed regulation that 85% of university professors' time should be devoted to teaching and 15% to research. And as there is no teaching going on (which is not true, there is no formal teaching but within the faculties, you've had workshops, panel discussions) salaries are cut to 15%. University professors are living from salary to salary. It's something that will undermine the protests.
SR: So, the government is trying to turn universities into mere teaching machines to impart technical skills, but it no longer wishes to support independent research. What are the other legal changes introduced by the government to undermine institutional autonomy and to pressure faculty into submission?
IP: Being turned into teaching institutions alone severely undermines the definition of being a university. Teaching and research together are extremely important. I'm really worried that this is a systematic approach to having complete control over universities.
The ruling party since 2017 has been tweaking laws related to university operations. There's a law on student organising, there are laws on higher education that have endangered the autonomy of the university as we know it. Universities and faculties have councils, which now have a majority of representatives of the state.
Before these student protests, students were also the weak link and were being utilised by the government to form a coalition against the academic part of these councils. So, it was sort of a stranglehold over universities. Now, of course, with the students playing a different role, this is not as easy.
But the government is willing to strangle and starve the university out of operation. The previous minister of education even called on deans to invite police into the faculties so that they could kick students out of faculties. The government wants to break the back of universities. They want to put them in a position of submission that [one where] their only job is to do some teaching that will provide maybe skills, but not the capacity of critical thinking.
The academic community wholeheartedly supports the students. But if you deprive them of their livelihood for a longer period, you're putting them in an impossible position where they have to choose between the wellbeing of their children and the wellbeing of their institution. It's a very nasty game that is being played now. Faculties are being bullied across the board in any way that the government thinks is possible.
SR: And the latest episode in the series of attacks against universities and their leadership took place on Easter, when charges were brought against the rector of your university. Could you talk about the background to this latest attempt to quell the protests?
IP: In its inability to pinpoint student leaders, the government has turned toward the rector of the University of Belgrade. It labeled him the leader of the protests! A very small group of government-influenced students have brought criminal charges against the rector. He was held in the police station for almost three hours, and in the meantime, thousands and thousands of members of the academic community gathered in front of this police station to show their support.
After this, the rector was invited by the prime minister for talks, which again implies that the rector is the head of the protest. Being a responsible man, the rector complied and went with two of his vice rectors to this meeting. This meeting didn't bear any fruit and there was a statement issued by the University of Belgrade after this meeting saying that it was an unproductive meeting that did not lead to any constructive dialogue toward the overcoming of the students' requests and demands.
One day later the prime minister wants to continue these talks. But there is a second criminal charge brought against the rector, so he had to inform the prime minister that he cannot come to this meeting because he, again, has to report to the police.
SR: So, the government seems to be trying to delegitimise the protestors and divide the students by instrumentalising some of them to file a case against the rector of their own university for violating their right to education? How has this tactic by the regime affected the course of the protests?
IP: It's clear that the protesting students have a very democratic way of making decisions. And if the majority of the students wanted to stop the blockade, they would vote for this. Students that are cooperating with the government are a very tiny minority, and they're being well rewarded for their efforts allegedly.
Meanwhile, the students have realised that there must be a political articulation to their demands. Obviously, the way they set it up as a citizens' and student protest, requiring the system to work according to law and the constitution, is not bearing any results.
Their first demand has been that the national broadcasting authority should renew the members of its board because it is this authority that is allowing the national media to support the government and not allowing independent media to be heard at a national level.
SR: Mundane, though tragic events can act as a trigger for citizens to mobilise against the rampant corruption of soft authoritarian regimes marked by cronyism and lack of accountability.
The courageous Serbian students have shown that principled commitment to the cause of democracy combined with creativity and the refusal to compromise on ideals can be a formidable weapon of the weak against even a well-entrenched regime and its repressive apparatus.
It remains to be seen whether students, professors and other social groups that have stood with them, including schoolteachers, lawyers and farmers, will have enough strength to resist economic pressures, punitive measures and state violence.
Opposition parties' involvement in fresh elections remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: by choosing solidarity and tenacity over submission and apathy, the Serbian protestors have rekindled the utopian spirit of radical democracy in an age when many have thought it had been snuffed out by soft authoritarian rulers using a mix of legal measures and police brutality.
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Full Text: How Did Anger Over a Roof Collapse Trigger Serbia's Democratic, Student-Led Protests?
In this episode of her fortnightly podcast Democracy in Question, Shalini Randeria, rector at the Central European University, Vienna, hosts Ivanka Popovic, professor with the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, a scholar of polymer engineering and sustainable development. She was rector of the University of Belgrade (2018-2021) and has been actively involved with the civic initiative ProGlas, which she co-founded in 2023. Their conversation recorded in April 2025 addresses the expanding wave of societal mobilisation in Serbia since November 2024, when a newly renovated railway station roof collapse killed 16 people in Novi Sad. With demands for investigating the culpability of high-ranking politicians being stonewalled by the government, the protests now threaten to shake the foundations of President Aleksandar Vucic's regime, as a student-led movement has recently demanded new elections. The following is an edited excerpt of part 1 (of 2) of the conversation: § Ivanka Popovic (IP): Shalini, I'm grateful for the opportunity to present to a broader audience what is going on in Serbia because it's not getting enough attention. Shalini Randeria (SR): Were you surprised that the collapse of the canopy could ignite such sustained protests all over the country? Or is it that the Novi Sad tragedy can be seen as the last straw, the anger against the cronyism of the Vucic regime? IP: Novi Sad sparked the realisation that all of us are potential victims. It is the shock that no one is safe anywhere because of the shoddiness of the work that is being done all over Serbia, because of the mass corruption, because the money going into any construction is minimal compared to what is formally being invested. The initial response was of deep sorrow and condolences to the families of the victims. Some students who were paying their respects were attacked by a group of hooligans that were later recognised to be active members of the ruling party. That was the trigger when the students said, enough is enough. They drew back into their faculties. They blocked the buildings. They said they would not attend classes, and they came out with four requests. They wanted accountability for those who participated in the project of the Novi Sad reconstruction, accountability of those who attacked them, and of those who have been arresting peaceful protestors and students and jailing them and charging them with criminal charges. So, it was the students' cry for a normal functioning of the state with rule of law and independent institutions. These demands have been massively supported by the population. The students have kept it a nameless protest just to keep themselves safe from persecution. They don't want to give a face to the protest, they want to have everyone participating in it. SR: But it isn't easy to mobilise citizens in Serbia as the Vucic regime maintains complete control of the media. Could you describe how the students have nevertheless managed to spread their message so successfully throughout the country? And how did they bridge the urban-rural divide to garner the support of villagers, farmers? IP: Initially, everything that the students were doing was only covered by the independent press and media [which] in Serbia do not have national coverage. The media with national coverage are controlled by the government. People outside of Belgrade in smaller towns and villages didn't know what was going on. This changed when the students started marching from town to town taking the local roads and speaking to villagers to explain what they were doing and why. And they were cheered on and very well received. The turning point was when some of the students went home for the Christmas-New Year break. Many of their parents or grandparents, who only watched state-controlled TV, didn't know what was going on or were disturbed that their children were engaged in anti-state activities. But when the students started elaborating, things started to change. And when these marches started, a broader base of support was developing. And it wasn't just Belgrade and Novi Sad that were protesting, but also other cities with universities, smaller towns. You really had a mass uprising of discontent. And this was not something led by opposition political parties. It was truly a citizens' movement asking for change. SR: Remarkably, the momentum of protests has been sustained undeterred despite severe, brutal repression by government forces. What has this broad countrywide mobilisation been able to achieve during the past half a year? IP: Six months into this, none of the demands of the students have been met. There have been only some cosmetic moves by the government. The ruling party has also stooped to violence. Students have been beaten, they have been rammed by moving cars and threatened and there have been some very serious injuries. A young female student was bludgeoned with a baseball bat; this did provoke the resignation of the Serbian prime minister. Now in April there is a new government, but it is just a continuation of the old. But it is even more clear in its message that no dissent will be tolerated. Prolonged protests are becoming an embarrassment to the president because the students have clearly stated that the president is acting outside of what he's legally [allowed] as president to do. SR: Nevertheless, the demonstrations have only grown in size and number. In March alone, there were some 400 protests across Serbia and the largest demonstration in Belgrade on March 15 saw more than 300,000 people on the streets demanding justice, transparency and punishment for the culprits. IP: It was a very peaceful protest that was interrupted by use of a sonic weapon. The exact origins of this sonic weapon are not clear. There has been a really farcical explanation by the government; the forensics have been done by the Russian FSB, the security services. And these security services have claimed that no sonic weapon was used, but that this was a very well-orchestrated group performance using mobile phones. This is nonsense. More than 3,000 people have reported either psychological or medical issues after this incident. SR: Let's situate the current protests in a broader historical context. Serbia has a long tradition of societal mobilisation, and also of student protests. The current wave is being compared to the student-led protests in 1968. And then again in the late 1990s, Serbia saw mass rallies by students against the Milosevic regime. It took almost three years to topple the Milosevic regime and send him to trial for war crimes to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Could you talk about this longer history of student-led protests and the role of universities in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia as focal points of social protests? Is there anything distinctive about the current protests? IP: You're right that there is a tradition. Once in a generation or a generation and a half, the students play a very important role in societal events in Serbia. In 1968, this was not a reflection of what was going on in Paris or Berlin. It was something that was related to a call for justice within a socialist regime. And this was a very important time. It also formed a generation of young people with open minds. They were the parents of those who demonstrated in the nineties against the Milosevic regime. There the trigger was election fraud. Opposition parties and the students together eventually brought about the change in October 2000. The students have not currently pointed toward irregularities in elections. Students are talking about potential elections and what we have seen in the past few elections. Vucic likes to hold elections every two years. He shows that he's in control and that he has majority support. But it's also a practical exercise because every time his grip and control of the electoral machine are becoming stronger. He has gone deeply into the electoral software where he can control the voting lists. He also has very good control of the polling stations. And we have seen a massive movement of voters within Serbia where people are being reinstated in another municipality. He has also been importing voters from Bosnia, from Montenegro, giving them citizenship, so they can vote. There has been a lot of manipulation, and some investigative NGOs realised the extent of how this scheme of rigging elections functions. And that's why any future election in Serbia is pointless unless we have a significant change in conditions of voting. Vucic will allow elections only if he's sure that he can win them. SR: Let me turn to the question of what university life has been like over the last six months. Decision-making on the course of protests by students has been the result of open discussions in a very democratic fashion in various faculties across universities in the country. Could you describe the daily assemblies, where decisions are being made? IP: They're practicing direct democracy through the operation of a plenum, which means that students gather, they discuss and make majority decisions. But because each has the right to speak and propose, these meetings take a long time. It's a slow process for making decisions and sometimes there is a time limit to these protests. If there's an incident where it's very important that the students should go to the national TV station and block it, they will be there within hours. But in order to make these political articulations, these are really long, tedious talks. First at the faculty level, then at the university level and if we're going to make a unanimous decision at the national level, that means amongst universities there must be agreement. So, the students are going through a wonderful education in democracy and active citizenship in life. I think it's commendable, it's wonderful. But I would say for some of the citizens, it's nerve-wracking because people who are older, with more experience, who remember the previous protests and the fact that they were not successful are really worrying. SR: If I understand correctly, normal life in universities has come to a standstill. Students have received a lot of support from faculty members and have been blocking faculties at state universities from functioning. And it seems as if this academic year may have to be written off. Schoolteachers also supported the countrywide protests. And unsurprisingly, the government has declared the students 'foreign agents' to discredit them. Could you say something about harsh punitive measures imposed by the government on faculty members? It looks as if this will also turn into a very important struggle for academic freedom and for the autonomy of universities. IP: Universities in Serbia have played very important roles in societal changes. This ruling party is anti-knowledge, anti-intellectual, anti-elite. They would like a very submissive population. In primary and secondary schools, you have short-term contracts. And there have been cuts in salaries for teachers, but they have been carrying this with great dignity. But it's not easy for months to receive no salary or only part of the salary. And this has also happened now with the university, but in a way that cuts into the essence of what a university is. The government has passed regulation that 85% of university professors' time should be devoted to teaching and 15% to research. And as there is no teaching going on (which is not true, there is no formal teaching but within the faculties, you've had workshops, panel discussions) salaries are cut to 15%. University professors are living from salary to salary. It's something that will undermine the protests. SR: So, the government is trying to turn universities into mere teaching machines to impart technical skills, but it no longer wishes to support independent research. What are the other legal changes introduced by the government to undermine institutional autonomy and to pressure faculty into submission? IP: Being turned into teaching institutions alone severely undermines the definition of being a university. Teaching and research together are extremely important. I'm really worried that this is a systematic approach to having complete control over universities. The ruling party since 2017 has been tweaking laws related to university operations. There's a law on student organising, there are laws on higher education that have endangered the autonomy of the university as we know it. Universities and faculties have councils, which now have a majority of representatives of the state. Before these student protests, students were also the weak link and were being utilised by the government to form a coalition against the academic part of these councils. So, it was sort of a stranglehold over universities. Now, of course, with the students playing a different role, this is not as easy. But the government is willing to strangle and starve the university out of operation. The previous minister of education even called on deans to invite police into the faculties so that they could kick students out of faculties. The government wants to break the back of universities. They want to put them in a position of submission that [one where] their only job is to do some teaching that will provide maybe skills, but not the capacity of critical thinking. The academic community wholeheartedly supports the students. But if you deprive them of their livelihood for a longer period, you're putting them in an impossible position where they have to choose between the wellbeing of their children and the wellbeing of their institution. It's a very nasty game that is being played now. Faculties are being bullied across the board in any way that the government thinks is possible. SR: And the latest episode in the series of attacks against universities and their leadership took place on Easter, when charges were brought against the rector of your university. Could you talk about the background to this latest attempt to quell the protests? IP: In its inability to pinpoint student leaders, the government has turned toward the rector of the University of Belgrade. It labeled him the leader of the protests! A very small group of government-influenced students have brought criminal charges against the rector. He was held in the police station for almost three hours, and in the meantime, thousands and thousands of members of the academic community gathered in front of this police station to show their support. After this, the rector was invited by the prime minister for talks, which again implies that the rector is the head of the protest. Being a responsible man, the rector complied and went with two of his vice rectors to this meeting. This meeting didn't bear any fruit and there was a statement issued by the University of Belgrade after this meeting saying that it was an unproductive meeting that did not lead to any constructive dialogue toward the overcoming of the students' requests and demands. One day later the prime minister wants to continue these talks. But there is a second criminal charge brought against the rector, so he had to inform the prime minister that he cannot come to this meeting because he, again, has to report to the police. SR: So, the government seems to be trying to delegitimise the protestors and divide the students by instrumentalising some of them to file a case against the rector of their own university for violating their right to education? How has this tactic by the regime affected the course of the protests? IP: It's clear that the protesting students have a very democratic way of making decisions. And if the majority of the students wanted to stop the blockade, they would vote for this. Students that are cooperating with the government are a very tiny minority, and they're being well rewarded for their efforts allegedly. Meanwhile, the students have realised that there must be a political articulation to their demands. Obviously, the way they set it up as a citizens' and student protest, requiring the system to work according to law and the constitution, is not bearing any results. Their first demand has been that the national broadcasting authority should renew the members of its board because it is this authority that is allowing the national media to support the government and not allowing independent media to be heard at a national level. SR: Mundane, though tragic events can act as a trigger for citizens to mobilise against the rampant corruption of soft authoritarian regimes marked by cronyism and lack of accountability. The courageous Serbian students have shown that principled commitment to the cause of democracy combined with creativity and the refusal to compromise on ideals can be a formidable weapon of the weak against even a well-entrenched regime and its repressive apparatus. It remains to be seen whether students, professors and other social groups that have stood with them, including schoolteachers, lawyers and farmers, will have enough strength to resist economic pressures, punitive measures and state violence. Opposition parties' involvement in fresh elections remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: by choosing solidarity and tenacity over submission and apathy, the Serbian protestors have rekindled the utopian spirit of radical democracy in an age when many have thought it had been snuffed out by soft authoritarian rulers using a mix of legal measures and police brutality.
