BELGRADFollowing nearly eight months of protests that have shaken his solid hold on power in the Balkan nation, tens of thousands of opponents of Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic gathered on Saturday in Belgrade, the country’s capital, to support their call for an early parliamentary election.
Before the rally in Belgrade, which was organized by Serbian university students—a major driving force behind the country’s anti-corruption protests that began after a refurbished rail station canopy collapsed on November 1st, killing 16 people—tensions had already skyrocketed.
There have been frequent mass protests as a result of the concrete roof disaster, which many attributed to widespread government corruption and carelessness in state infrastructure projects.
The call for an early vote has been consistently rejected by Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party, who also accused demonstrators of plotting to incite violence on orders from overseas, but they did not provide specifics.
In an attempt to quell the protests, Vucic’s government has clamped down on Serbia’s striking universities and other opponents while putting further pressure on independent media. Nonetheless, the large turnout for Saturday’s anti-Vucic demonstration indicated that the determination endures in spite of constant pressure and following over eight months of practically daily demonstrations.
Numerous members of Vucic’s party, many of whom were wearing T-shirts that said, “We won’t give up Serbia,” were bussed into Belgrade from different areas of the nation hours before the student-led event. They were joining a group of supporters of Vucic in central Belgrade, where they have been camped out since the middle of March.
As per his custom, Vucic presented presidential prizes in the capital to journalists and artists he thought deserving.
People don’t have to worry because the state will be protected and criminals will be held accountable,” Vucic said reporters on Saturday.
In 2027, Serbia will hold elections for both the presidency and the parliament.
Saturday is St. Vitus Day, a religious event with symbolic significance for Serbs commemorating a war against Ottoman Turks in Kosovo in the 14th century that marked the beginning of hundreds of years of Turkish dominance.
Police earlier this week detained a number of individuals on suspicion of conspiring to topple the government and barred entry to the nation for a number of Croatians and a Montenegrin theatrical director without providing a reason.
In what critics claimed was an apparent attempt to stop people from getting to Belgrade for the march, Serbia’s railway authority suspended train operations due to an alleged bomb threat.
Similar actions were taken by the authorities in March, before to the largest anti-government demonstration in the Balkan nation, which attracted hundreds of thousands of participants.
The loyalists of Vucic then established a camp in a park outside his still-existing office. When a portion of the audience abruptly dispersed in fear, the otherwise peaceful March 15 gathering came to an abrupt conclusion. This led to accusations that authorities used a sonic weapon against nonviolent protestors, which officials have denied.
Since taking office more than ten years ago, Vucic, a former extreme nationalist, has grown more autocratic. Critics claim that despite Vucic’s official declaration that he wants Serbia to join the EU, he has suppressed democratic freedoms in favor of closer relations with China and Russia.
