Student rebellion, the beginning of the end of Vučić’s rule

After the victory of Aleksandar Vucic in the 2022 presidential elections, everyone in the region thought that Serbia had sailed into predictable and calm waters. That year, after years of disagreement, I came into open conflict with him over his views on the war in Ukraine and left the SNS! I said publicly at the time that he had created a serious clientelistic corruption system and that he was completely tied to Russia, but that he was still trusted in the West to give mild warnings on foreign policy. However, Vucic’s plans were disrupted by the unexpected outbreak of violence in Serbia. First, on 3 May 2023, there was the massacre at the Ribnikar primary school in Belgrade, then, just as horrifically, a day later, there was the massacre in the villages of Malo Orašje and Dubona, where 20 young people were killed and several more injured! Serbia was shocked and protests began immediately. They were led by the opposition, but their demands were weak and incomprehensible! For a short time they had an energy that melted during the flight! Vucic was “wounded” but still very strong! Suddenly in September the opposition asks him for early elections and he agrees! All the polls said that the opposition had little chance of winning in Belgrade, but not the Republic! Then there is a terrorist act in Banjska! Vucic is under enormous pressure from the West and is doing something that has never happened before in such a visible way – he is brutally stealing the elections. Protests start again across Serbia, but the opposition agrees to take over, Vucic chooses a new government and everything returns to calm waters.

Serbia is hit by a new disaster on 1 November 2024! A concrete canopy collapsed from the recently renovated Novi Sad railway station, killing 15 people and leaving two still fighting for their lives! Vucic does not get off the television, he talks nonsense and it becomes clear to the people that this accident is no coincidence! On the same day, I wrote on my profiles that the ONLY GUILTY for the death of these people is Vucic, because he is the creator of a corrupt system that is not only stealing Serbia, but is also starting to kill it! Five days later, the first protest took place in Novi Sad, with 30,000 people (the same as if 120,000 people had turned out in Belgrade)! The regime resorted to the same methods as before, throwing provocateurs and thugs in among the demonstrators and accusing the opposition of violence. Yet the protests continue unabated! In many cities, a 15-minute commemoration for the victims is being organised every day and accountability is being demanded! At the end of November, FDU students organised a protest and the SNS phalanx took them on in the presence of the police. Even members of the SNS Executive Committee were among the attackers, and several students were injured!

Then something unthinkable in Serbia begins. ALL faculties, all 4 state universities stand up and STUDENTS start protesting! They present their 4 demands and announce protests and blockades until they are met:

1. Publication of the full documentation on the reconstruction of the railway station

2. Criminal proceedings against all persons who assaulted FDU students

3. Dropping criminal proceedings against all students who took part in the protests

4. Increase the allocation for state faculties by 20 per cent

Vučić is launching a bunch of lies and deceptions, stepping up his media campaign against the protests, all in the hope that the January holidays and the school holidays will dilute the protests, as has been the case so far. He invites students to dialogue, but gets a shocking response: We have no reason to talk to you because you are NOT COMPETENT! This is the most important moment of these protests! Finally, the students put him in his place, they tell him that they want the institutions to function as the Constitution stipulates and that he is not needed to meet their demands! They are killing what keeps him in power: they are telling him that it does not matter and suddenly the FEAR of Vucic in Serbia disappears! Protests are breaking out all over Serbia, in all the cities, towns and even many villages. Even high school students are taking to the streets! Students start their marches across Serbia, and people welcome them as liberators from some great war, often bringing them the last piece of bread they have in the house! The government falls, but Vucic continues his antics, trying to suck up to the new American administration, but they don’t notice him! The EU is finally turning its back on Serbia and Serbia is not joining SEPA, they are not opening up Cluster 3 and they are not getting any more money! The economy is on its knees, strikes are on the increase and students are pumping ahead! The only one who supports Vucic is his personal ruler Putin! But neither Putin, nor Trump, nor the EU, nor the war in Ukraine … nor the events in Kosovo in Serbia are of interest to anyone anymore! Only the responsibility for the death of 15 people in Novi Sad, the responsibility for corruption and the end of HIS rule!

New protest planned for 15 March in Belgrade! The first big one was 3 months ago in Slavija and was attended by more than 100,000 people! Believe me, this one will be even more massive than the 5th of October! Will Vučić meet the students’ demands? NO, for two reasons: the first is that the institutions that should meet them do not exist, and the second is that by meeting these demands, Vucic would be handcuffing himself! The worst possible scenario for the end of this situation is a revolutionary end or a violent end to this evil government! We must avoid that because Serbia killed one of its kings, then its Prime Minister… something like that would be disastrous for Serbia and I do not know how we would even have the courage to demand to be part of the civilised Euro-Atlantic world!

The best solution to this situation would be for the opposition, the NGO sector, associations, trade unions… to ask the EU to mediate and help form a pro-European transitional government that would meet the demands of the students, implement the ODHIR recommendations of last year and free the judiciary from corrupt leaders! Then there would be free elections!

Serbia, and the whole region, needs a strong and determined EU right now!/Dragan Sormaz for The Geopost/