Almost half a year after the collapse of the canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad railway station claimed 16 lives, protests in Serbia have entered a phase of strategic maneuvering between the government and the student movement.
Despite the massive protest in Belgrade on March 15, which brought more than 300,000 people onto the streets, student demands for criminal and political accountability over the canopy collapse are still at odds with the political maneuverings of the authorities.
“We are currently in a phase where both sides are playing the patience game, waiting for someone to make a wrong move in this game of nerves, while simultaneously reassessing the decisions that need to be made,” Bojan Klacar, executive director of the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID), told DW.
Government pushes ahead with new movement
Klacar believes that the government will conclude this phase with the appointment of a new cabinet, following the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on January 28.
Consultations on the new government have already begun, and Parliamentary Speaker Ana Brnabic has announced that if agreement is not reached by April 18, new elections will be called for early June.
Meanwhile, President Aleksandar Vucic has once again played the card of forming a “Movement for the People and the State.”
A ‘festival-like atmosphere’ promised for launch
“It is time to channel the great strength of our people and unite all the wisdom and patriotism of our citizens so that we can shape the future we all want,” Vucic said on Instagram following a meeting about the new movement’s formation.
The movement will be officially launched at a large gathering in Belgrade from April 11 to 13. According to Brnabic, the event will have a festival-like atmosphere and feature food, drink, cultural performances and a showcase of Serbia’s tourism potential.
Citizens will also be able to officially join the movement, write letters to President Vucic and even “submit critiques of officials at all levels of government.”
Repression of opponents
While offering optimism to its supporters, the government is baring its teeth to demonstrators.
After halting salaries for elementary and high school teachers who participated in strikes, the authorities are now targeting university professors.
Professor Vladimir Mihic of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Novi Sad told DW that he received only 23 dinars (20 cents) as the second half of his February salary.
“After March 15, the government simply began losing control. Since it failed to provoke bloodshed, impose a state of emergency and, as the president put it, ‘bring the protests to an end,’ the next phase is open repression of anyone who opposes it,” he said.
In addition to salary cuts, Mihic says that this repression takes the form of the arrest and detention of students and activists, the bringing of criminal charges against deans and even physical attacks.
Physical attacks
The atmosphere in the country in general is very tense. Last Thursday, a group of students was attacked in Novi Sad. Two suffered minor injuries, while one was seriously injured and hospitalized.
Two days later, Natalija Jovanovic, dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Nis, was attacked with a knife. Videos circulating on social media that were recorded by bystanders captured the assailant threatening Jovanovic, saying, “I want to kill you,” and accusing her of “ruining her granddaughter’s life.”
Jovanovic was among the first university leaders in Serbia to support the student protests and blockades. Since then, she has been a target of pro-government tabloids, which have labeled her an “instigator of a gang of thugs and fascists” and accused her of “inciting unrest.”
A step closer to demanding a transitional government
But protesters are also keeping up the pressure.
Every attempt by ruling party officials to appear in public has been met with demonstrations, whistling and, in some cases, eggs thrown at officials and members of the ruling SNS.
Student assemblies do not endorse such tactics, instead urging citizens to organize in local community meetings.
While the students have so far avoided openly calling for regime change, discussions about taking the protests to the next level and articulating specific political demands have become more frequent since the Belgrade demonstration on March 15.
Media reports indicate that some assemblies have already voted on a proposal for an “expert government,” though the plan will remain undisclosed until consensus is reached among all protesting faculties.
A similar proposal has already been put forward by the united opposition and the non-partisan initiative “Proglas.”
Are the government’s days numbered?
Although Klacar believes such a move is necessary, he worries that it comes too late and should have come when the protests were at their peak.
“I am not sure that the government wants to do more than it has already done regarding the demands,” said Klacar. “It will likely make indirect concessions to defuse the protests—perhaps changing government personnel, altering certain policies and appointing figures with different professional backgrounds.”
Professor Mihic, however, believes the SNS’s days are numbered.
“Autocratic regimes always become increasingly repressive and aggressive toward the end of their rule. This repression should actually encourage us. It shows that this regime is in its final throes. I believe it will not survive the next few months,” he told DW.
Cycling to Strasbourg
Students are now for the first time seeking allies in Europe as well. Eighty students set off early on Thursday morning to cycle to Strasbourg, where they plan to present their demands to the Council of Europe and highlight the Serbian institutions’ failure to respond.
The 1,300-kilometer journey is expected to take around 12 days and will take the students to Budapest in Hungary, Vienna, Linz and Salzburg in Austria, and Munich, Augsburg, Ulm and Stuttgart in Germany.
Klacar believes the ride could raise awareness in certain European circles about Serbia’s political crisis, potentially undermining the government’s international legitimacy.
“But in terms of whether this action will be a turning point for the protests or change the EU’s stance on Serbia—I’m not sure,” he said.
“The European Union has been very clear and precise in its official reports regarding the situation in Serbia, particularly in the Progress Report,” he added. “But it is unrealistic to expect the EU to take radical positions against its partners. Serbia is, after all, an EU partner—especially when no clear political alternative has yet emerged within the country.”
And, according to Klacar, the formation of such a political alternative in Serbia is still a long way off.
Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan
