As Belgrade’s asphalt shimmers in blistering 40-degree sunshine, the city is bracing for heat of a very different kind: Students have scheduled another major protest for Saturday.
All eyes are on the Serbian capital, and both anticipation and uncertainty across the country are rising as students remain tight-lipped about their plans and the exact location and timing of the demonstration.
The protest has the potential to be a turning point because the students have issued what they are calling an “ultimatum” to the Serbian government, demanding the announcement by 9 p.m. on June 28 that the government will ask the president to dissolve parliament, paving the way for snap elections.
“Should the stated demands not be met within the given timeframe, we expect that the citizens of Serbia will be ready to take all available measures of civil disobedience to protect their basic right to a free and legitimate democratic system,” the students wrote in an open letter to the Serbian government.
Significant date for the protest
The upcoming protest comes after eight months of protests, during which students and citizens have demanded political and criminal accountability for the collapse last November of the canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad Railway Station, which killed 16 people.
The day chosen for the protest carries particular weight in Serbia.
Vidovdan is a national and religious holiday that falls on June 28. Deeply rooted in Serbian history and mythology, it has often coincided with decisive events and historical turning points in the country’s history such as the 1389 Battle of Kosovo and a number of pivotal political events in the 20th century.
Universities under pressure
In the meantime, the government has increased pressure on universities.
For four months now, university professors have been surviving on one-eighth of their salaries as the government refuses to pay salaries for the period during which classes were halted due to student blockades.
The state insists that the unpaid salaries will only be paid once the missed classes have been made up. Universities are now scrambling to do that even as the blockades continue.
While some have shifted to online lectures, others are distributing reading material and hoping that students will manage on their own.
In institutions where practical skills are an essential part of the course, professors warn that these solutions are educationally and legally unacceptable.
“This is clear to professors pretending to teach, to students who are not participating in such teaching and most of all to the state that forced us into this form of instruction,” says Jelena Kleut, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Novi Sad.
“The only fair response is to reject such teaching, and some colleagues have done just that — regardless of the consequences,” she told DW.
Students bear the brunt
But the heaviest burden is borne by the students themselves. Many are refusing to go along with such forms of tuition, even though the end of the academic year is approaching and no one knows what will happen next.
“If the state begins retaliating against students, we could end up with entire classes repeating the year and losing their student status. I don’t think that will happen — the scale would be enormous — but we’ve seen the government do things we once thought impossible,” says Kleut.
High school seniors face even greater uncertainty: Instead of preparing for university entrance exams, they are waiting to see what the state will do. The government has yet to authorize universities to enroll new students.
Kleut finds it unacceptable that these students are being used as pawns in the standoff between the government and academia.
“But they have been a very rebellious part of society, too. They blocked their high schools . Perhaps the government simply doesn’t like the idea of a whole new rebellious generation appearing on university campuses,” Kleut adds.
Targeting student allies
Repression in Serbia is spreading — not only targeting protesters, but also anyone who has supported them over the past eight months.
Three teachers at Svetozar Miletic High School in the small town of Srbobran were fired for suspending classes in solidarity with the students. One of them was Slavica Filipovic, who has helped 24 years of students to graduate from high school.
“I bowed deeply to them all and locked my classroom,” she wrote on Facebook. “It was wonderful being your teacher. It truly enriched my life. Remember: Learn, because knowledge can’t be taken from you. And please, have your own opinion. Be yourselves, no matter the cost.”
Without warning, the government also revoked tax incentives for the IT sector, one of the loudest supporters of the protests and a key source of support for unpaid teachers.
Cultural institutions have also faced consequences. Those that supported the students — by expressing solidarity, going on strike or protesting — have lost government funding.
“The regime clearly has a problem with those parts of society where entire communities stand against it. Everyone who didn’t explicitly support the current government has been punished,” says Gojko Bozovic, founder and editor-in-chief of the publishing house Arhipelag.
Protests continue unabated
But despite all this, people in Serbia are not backing down. Every day at 11:52 a.m. — the exact minute the canopy collapsed in Novi Sad — protesters stop traffic and block roads. In silence and persistence, they honor the victims and refuse to let the tragedy be forgotten — like so many others before it.
The students believe that the only path to justice is a new political distribution of power. They say they are fully aware of the deeply irregular electoral conditions in Serbia and the engineering of results, but believe that a united front across society can shake the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
They came close in recent local elections in Kosjeric and Zajecar, where the SNS won by a narrow margin.
Vucic stands firm
President Aleksandar Vucic, however, is adamant that no elections will be held before 2026. Can the students get him to budge?
Those who spoke to DW are skeptical. Professor Kleut feels that only an overwhelming push would result in a breakthrough.
“And we’ll see on June 28 how many citizens are ready to be part of that pressure,” she says.
Kleut notes that while public dissatisfaction has not gone away, the fatigue is real, and the sense of urgency has faded.
“I think the dissatisfaction is just as strong as it was in December, but the feeling that something must happen immediately … that may have been lost. And I believe it’ll be easier to rekindle that feeling in the fall, rather than in July or August.”
So, depending on how things develop on Saturday, Serbia might not only be in for a meteorologically hot summer, but for a politically hot fall — provided the students can hold out until then.
Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan
