Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on Tuesday, as months of student and civic protests began to take their political toll.
Vucevic is a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and a close political ally of President Aleksandar Vucic.
The mayor of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, and fellow SNS party member Milan Djuric also resigned.
“This shows that we who were elected to assume responsibility are assuming responsibility so that the situation does not spill over onto the streets and lead to disputes between citizens and divisions in society,” Vucevic said at a press conference in Belgrade.
Shock at developments in Novi Sad
The resignations came the day after news reports from Novi Sad shocked the nation. On Monday evening, students were posting stickers calling for new protests outside the office of the ruling SNS when they were attacked with clubs by assailants who emerged from the building.
According to media reports, the students were brutally beaten, and one young woman was taken to hospital with a fractured jaw.
The attack occurred just a few hours after both the president and prime minister had called for dialogue and claimed to have met all the students’ demands.
Almost three months of protests
The protests began in November 2024 after a canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. Since then, a growing number of citizens have been blaming the tragedy and shoddy construction work on widespread corruption in Serbia.
The students are calling for the publication of all documents relating to the renovation of the railway station, which was completed shortly before the canopy collapse, and the arrest of those responsible.
But the protests are also taking aim at President Vucic himself, who is seen as the head of the patronage system that prevails in Serbia.
Initial responses to Tuesday morning’s announcement indicate that Vucevic’s resignation will unlikely stop the protests.
“These resignations come at least three months too late,” said Pavle Grbovic, president of the opposition Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) party. “The tension and the violence could have been less if these people had acted in a moral and timely manner. Now it just looks like they want to limit the obvious damage to the SNS’s standing in the opinion polls,” he told DW.
It is unclear whether the government will try to call early elections in the current heated atmosphere or whether, more likely, a new prime minister will be appointed. The opposition would probably boycott the vote if the government opts for a snap election.
President under pressure
The recent protests have been backed by entire universities, schools, lawyers’ practices and cultural institutions, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to demonstrate.
A 24-hour blockade of the Autokomanda, a major traffic intersection in Belgrade, that caused major traffic disruptions ended on Tuesday.
“We are here to show solidarity and nobleness,” student Lazar Ristanovic told DW on Monday as tents were being put up behind him.
Some students spent the night on the intersection. “There are more and more of us every day. They can’t stop this many people, and we won’t stop until our demands are met,” Ristanovic said.
Vucic has ruled Serbia with an iron hand for over a decade. Until now, protests never posed a threat to him, but things seem to be different this time.
Vucic is well versed in the strategy of power and has strong links both in the West and in Russia and China. Until now, he has responded to the protesters’ demands with daily, frequently heated appearances on pro-government television channels.
However, in an address to the nation on Monday evening, he appeared unusually calm and indicated a willingness to negotiate. He said all of the students’ demands were being met, explaining that the government was releasing the remaining documents — tens of thousands of pages — relating to the renovation of Novi Sad station.
“The current situation threatens our economic growth,” said Vucic. “We must go back to work. The country must function.”
Attacks on protesters
During his resignation speech on Tuesday, Vucevic repeated President Vucic’s claim that the protests are being orchestrated from “abroad” and seek to destroy Serbian unity.
Pro-government tabloid media describe the students and protesters every day as “foreign mercenaries,” “violent criminals” and “enemies of the state.”
Thugs suspected of having links to the SNS have attacked peaceful demonstrators on several occasions. In separate incidents, two female students were seriously injured when cars were intentionally driven at speed into the demonstrators’ blockades.
Although the drivers were arrested and charged with attempted murder, the atmosphere remains highly charged and no one knows what will happen next.
Support for students could increase
“The image of students as enemies of the state has embedded itself in some people’s minds,” political scientist Viktor Stamenkovic told DW.
Stamenkovic believes, however, that the government’s aggressive stance could lead many undecided voters to sympathize with the students.
According to a survey by the independent, non-partisan Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability, 61% of people in Serbia support the blockades and protests, while only a third believe they are the work of “enemies” inside and outside the state.
This is a slap in the face for Vucic, whose style of rule relies on propaganda, the awarding of jobs in the public sector to loyal party members and supporters, and the control of the judiciary and the police.
What happens next?
In this fight between a powerful system and a popular movement, the students have thus far expressly distanced themselves from established Serbian opposition parties and the NGO sector in the country.
The central question is whether the protests — a grassroots movement with no central leadership — can really force the government to resign. If they do, critics suggest that many members of the government could end up behind bars.
Initial responses to the prime minister’s resignation and the president’s most recent address show that neither the students nor the opposition have faith in Vucic’s “offer of talks.”
And so, the standoff looks set to continue.
With contributions from Iva Manojlovic in Belgrade
This article was originally published in German and adapted by Aingeal Flanagan.
