Around 150,000 people gather in Belgrade for student movement rally — The Guardian

In Belgrade, Serbia, around 150,000 supporters of the student opposition movement took part in a rally ahead of parliamentary elections due to be held on Sunday. The Guardian reports, citing the independent mass-gathering monitoring group Archive of Public Gatherings.

Rally at Slavija Square

Participants marched through the central streets of the Serbian capital and gathered at Slavija Square, where major protests had previously taken place. They chanted slogans, blew whistles and held flags bearing the words “Students Win.”

The Student List movement brings together candidates supported by students and has no single leader. It seeks to end the more than 14-year rule of the Serbian Progressive Party, led by Aleksandar Vučić. Among the movement’s 250 candidates for the 250-seat parliament are representatives of academia and people with no previous political experience. Fighting corruption is at the core of their platform.

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Protests after the Novi Sad tragedy

Student protests in Serbia have been continuing for nearly two years. They were triggered by the collapse of a canopy at the recently reconstructed railway station in Novi Sad in 2024, which killed 16 people. The tragedy was widely linked to corruption, while demands for a transparent investigation later grew into calls for early elections.

Civil society organizations said that the election campaign was accompanied by intimidation, arrests and the use of public resources. Several days before the vote, Serbian civil society organizations also warned that conditions for free and fair elections were absent. Vučić has repeatedly called the student movement an attempted coup financed from abroad.

Last month, Vučić called early elections amid mounting political pressure. He addressed supporters at a party event in Belgrade and urged them to defeat their opponents. According to the publication, Vučić resigned in order to run for prime minister.