Tensions in Serbia continue to escalate after thousands of citizens filled the central square “Trg српских ratnika“ in the town of Kraljevo.
The protest took place on Sunday evening on the emblematic national holiday Vidovden, local media and regional correspondents in the Balkans reported.
The demonstration marked a new peak of dissatisfaction, just a day after President Aleksandar Vucic announced at a rally in Belgrade on Saturday that he would resign within a few weeks and schedule early elections. However, protesters in Kraljevo met his words with strong skepticism, defining them as a political tactical move to buy time.
Main organizer of the event was the youth movement “Students in Blockade“. Young people from all over the country joined the actions, with students walking dozens of kilometers from Kragujevac and running a relay race from Čačak to gather in Kraljevo under the motto “Everything is visible on Vidovden“. The symbol of the protest was the famous painting “The Kosovo Girl“. The organizers explained that the decentralization of the protest outside the capital Belgrade aims to show that anger against corruption has spread throughout Serbia.
According to information from the independent regional network N1, the protesters are demanding not just elections, but complete institutional reform and real judicial responsibility for the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station in late 2024, in which a collapsed canopy took the lives of 16 people. The speakers who spoke told the gathered crowd that “the end of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party regime is approaching“.
The authorities' reaction: Vucic accused the protesters of "foreign influence"
In an extraordinary statement on state television RTS late last night, President Aleksandar Vucic commented on the wave of protests in the country. He stressed that he had already made the maximum concession with the promise of an early vote and defined the ongoing demonstrations as "an attempt to destabilize Serbia by external factors". According to him, the street pressure aims to weaken Belgrade's negotiating positions on international issues, but he assured that state institutions will not allow an escalation of violence.
The opposition unites: A united front is being sought for elections
The leaders of the main pro-European and right-wing opposition parties in Serbia held a closed coordination meeting immediately after the events in Kraljevo. According to preliminary information, the opposition is preparing to sign a joint memorandum. Their strategy includes two main points:
- Boycott the vote if the government does not fulfill the demands for a complete cleaning of the voter lists and ensuring equal access to national television.
- A single broad coalition, which will nominate a common candidate for president and a common list for parliament, similar to the DOS coalition from 2000.
The students' plan: A "Week of total blockade" is coming
The youth movement "Students in Blockade" announced its readiness to move to the next phase of civil disobedience from today, Monday. The distributed plan for this week envisages:
- Blockades on the key artery:Planirat se iznadvaschi two-hour spiral on traffic on the highway E-75 (Niš-Belgrade-Novi Sad).
- Occupation of the faculty: Students at the Belgrade and Novosad University announced readiness and block the rectorate si, insistence on leaving on rakovodstvata, koito spored tyakh borrow a passive position directly krizata in the country.