Students at the Forefront of a Fight for Democracy
By Korina Lorenz | News | May 03, 2025
Cover Illustration: Supportive protest in Amsterdam organised by the Serbian diaspora, January 18, 2025. Jan Arsenović / Odomaćeni
With Serbia in mass uproar over Vučić government corruption, calls for democratic change are only growing. Korina Lorenz reports.
15th for 15
Saturday March 15 saw the biggest protest in modern Serbia’s history, with hundreds of thousands of people gathering in the capital city, Belgrade, in a culmination of four months of nationwide protests against corruption. The bout of protests was sparked by the November 1 collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad, which was symbolically named ‘15th for 15,’ on March 15 to honour the 15 victims. On March 21, the station roof collapse claimed its sixteenth victim: 18-year-old Vukašin Crnčević passed away in the hospital after nearly five months of intensive care.
The months of protest have demanded transparency regarding the reconstruction documents of the train station, which was renovated only a few years earlier, as well as for those in power to be held accountable for the negligence and corruption that led to the station’s collapse. The full financial documentation regarding the reconstruction is yet to be publicly released, with the only official estimate for the final reconstruction costs circling around €16 million, as announced by Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić. Contrasting this figure is an estimate from 2021 by the Institute of Transport, (CIP) that expected the cost of the project to be around €3.5 million. This comes as only the most recent in a string of corruption scandals regarding the ruling party, Srpska Napredna Stranka (SNS).
After continuous disregard of the demands by the government, and repression through political violence, the protests snowballed into a mass anti-corruption movement, with students at the forefront. It is currently one of Europe’s largest protest movements, with 80% of citizens supporting most of the demands, and one third of the population saying they have themselves participated in the protests. The movement also gained worldwide solidarity, with supportive protests being organised consistently by the Serbian diaspora for the last five months. In the Netherlands, multiple protests have been held in Amsterdam, as well as Rotterdam and Utrecht.
A Powerful Student Movement
On November 25, 2024, after a series of attacks on protesters, students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (FDU) at the University of Arts in Belgrade were the first to occupy their university. This was later mirrored by many others. In December 2024, students of the Faculty of Technical Sciences (FTN) at the University of Novi Sad, the largest faculty in Serbia, formed their encampment. The past five months have seen students setting up encampments at their universities around the country, organising protests, symbolic cross-country marches and calling for general strikes.
FTN students have five demands, widely approved of and echoed by over 400 members of the faculty staff, that Vučić’s government still fails to meet. The demands include the publication of all documentation regarding the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, and the criminal prosecution of those responsible for its reconstruction. Furthermore, students demand the resignations and legal accountability of Serbian Prime Minister, Miloš Vučević and Novi Sad mayor, Milan Đurić; who have stepped down from their posts but have not yet been criminally investigated. Finally, they demand the prosecution of all those have have attacked demonstrators, specifying particularly the officers who apprehended and allegedly physically assaulted 74-year-old demonstrator Ilija Kostić. These demands have been democratically agreed upon by the Novi Sad encampments, with other student encampments having two differing demands on their list: a 20% budget increase for higher education and a dismissal of charges against students arrested at the protests.
Regarding their first demand, Tijana, an architecture student at FTN reveals, “They publish the documentation bit by bit. So, first they publish (…) a hundred documents, and say, ‘this is all the documentation there is, we met your demand.’ And then our students with the help of the professors determine that this is not all that the entire project documentation should contain (…) I think around three times they said the demand was met, and the experts concluded that was not the case. So they are deceiving us (…) we’re all aware (…) that they are hiding something.”
Throughout the months, the students have remained non-partisan and have no leaders, instead self-organising their actions through plenums; forums of direct, decentralised democracy where every student can voice their opinion. “It all became a fantastic organisation by the students themselves. We started from nothing, did something small, learned from our mistakes and then the whole structure branched out into one function,” states Alen, a student of computer graphics at FTN.
Corruption of the Vučić Regime
“This (the collapse) was really ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back. For as long as I can remember, since I was in high school, I have been going to protests [against corruption]. When the canopy collapsed, I thought to myself, ‘Does everything have to be so corrupt that even after stealing heaps of money [on this project], the bare minimum couldn’t be done, which is to keep the structure standing?’” shares Marian, an architecture student at the FTN in Novi Sad, Serbia.
Olivera Vukašinović, who emigrated to the Netherlands from Serbia as part of what she calls “the Vučić emigration wave” reflects on her experience: “I was already 30 when we came as accomplished individuals with careers and with children. We realised we don’t want to throw away the next 20 years of our lives and that if we want to provide our children with a good life, it is not going to be in Serbia.We wanted to provide our children with something better.”
Together with Ema Petrović and Jan Arsenović, all of whom emigrated to the Netherlands between 2016 and 2018, Olivera Vukašinović runs an online podcast called Odomaćeni, which covers various cultural and social happenings of interest to the ex-Yugoslavian diaspora. Since January, they have raised more than €30,000 in donations for the student encampments in Serbia.
”And whichever future government may come to power, they should know they are (…) no exception under the law, just like every other citizen.”
Ema remembers her impressions on November 1, and how they changed over time: “I was in Belgrade when the canopy collapsed, and I think (…) many of us thought that this would be just another tragedy caused by corruption in Serbia that will soon fall into oblivion. Because unfortunately the victims of Vučić’s regime are already numbered in dozens”.
She continues: “I think now [with these protests] a positive energy has been released and nothing can suppress it anymore (…) The students in Serbia really showed both courage and perseverance and these are the qualities that overthrow regimes and change the course of history.”
“[Vučić] already tried all of the ways which he used to break up the protests before and he isn’t succeeding” Ema shares, referring to countless violent attacks on protesters, as well as anti-protest rhetoric by the government and state-controlled media. For example, on March 15 authorities reportedly used a sonic weapon to break up a silent 15-minute vigil held in honour of the victims. In response, a petition calling for an independent international investigation has gained 600,000 signatures. “Instead even more people come out to the streets and it awakens the spite and the will to go out and fight this” she continues, reflecting on the spirit of the protestors.
The Future of the Movement and Serbia
The protesters emphasise the cyclical and self-reinforcing nature of corruption, stressing institutional changes as the only viable solution towards eradicating it’s deep roots, that have taken hold of every social sector. “Democracy has to be consistently upheld because there are forces (…) at play that will try to accumulate power to the point of its disintegration” states Marian.
He continues: “Because the importance of democracy and maintaining collective awareness has become apparent, the culture of community organising is also becoming stronger. (…) What we are realising is the importance of building democratic, citizen culture where democracy is not only representative, but rather more directly including citizens’ voices.”
In an environment of political distrust, the protesters see an implementation of certain aspects of a direct democracy as a way to reintroduce the will of the people into government. On social media, students are urging the Serbian population to organise citizen assemblies alike to student plenums, an initiative already taken by some.
“This direct democracy is a current breath of fresh air, so to say, after all these years where only one group of people decides, and the citizens do not have a say in it,” shares Tijana.
On April 15, a group of 80 students from Novi Sad completed the “Tour de Strasbourg,” biking 1300 km over 12 days to the heart of the European Union to raise awareness of the protests in Serbia and demand a reaction from the European officials, who are accused of remaining silently indifferent to protests against Vučić’s regime. As the movement continues ever so strongly, the message students are sending is clear and radiant.
“What we are trying to prove is that every government is replaceable, and whatever they do, corrupt or illegal, it will be found out and they will be replaced,” states Alen, with Marian adding: ”And whichever future government may come to power, they should know they are (…) no exception under the law, just like every other citizen.”
Korina Lorenz is a university student in Amsterdam. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Amsterdammer.
