Serbia have startled mass protests for months as Protesters demand justice and accountability After the death of 15 people in the collapse of a train station.
Tens of thousands of students have been marching for almost three months and demand that those responsible for the calamity are held responsible and prosecuted. The canopy on the train station collapsed on November 1 after renovations led by two Chinese companies.
A general strike was mentioned last week, with many who cried work while people blocked large streets in Belgrade and occupied university campuses in solidarity with the young demonstrators.
“I have worked in the Balkans for 30 years and I have never seen anything like that,” Tanya Domi, professor at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, told Fox News Digital.
Kosovo accuses Serbia of ‘terrorist attack’ that resembles Russian actions in Ukraine
Students walk to the northern city of Novi Sad, near the suburb of Belgrade of Batajnica, Serbia, Thursday, January 30, 2025, where they will participate in a 24-hour blockade of three bridges to protest November collapse of a train station lacquer. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
With protests that do not show signs of deviation, Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation, and the mayor of Novi Sad, the city where the tragedy took place, also finished.
“The protests have already brought down two scalp, and I think there should be more,” Domi said.
The dismissal of the prime minister made him the highest regime officer to resign, but it did not suppress the uprising. Massive protests continued to break out in Belgrade and throughout the country.
“The premier’s resignation is simply not enough,” Helena Ivanov, senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Institute, told Fox News Digital.
Ivanov said that the protesters guided by students have defined objectives, including full transparency about the process that led to the collapse and responsible person responsible for the loss of life.
The government has so far unclear and tried to avoid the investigation by trivializing the government’s fault. First the government tried to ignore the protests, then started using violence and accused the protests of infiltrated by foreign agitators. Some observers complain the Vucian government Not acting and giving clear answers to the public is endemic for the core institutional corruption of Serbia.
Zenskyy warns that Russia wants to cause ‘explosion’ in the Balkans
“For protesters, the collapse of the Novi Sad Raily Station Canopy cannot be treated as an incident and isolated event, but rather as a symptom of more widespread negligence and systemic corruption that deposited in this tragedy,” Sinisa Vukovic, director of the Global Policyy Program at Johns at Johns Hopkins University, Fox News Digital told.
The unprecedented resignation of the prime minister leaves the government in Flux. The country will see a new prime minister and the government will be formed within 30 days or be confronted with Snap elections. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, however, addressed the nation and said that in the next 10 days he will decide whether Serbia will be confronted with a rapid election.
Montenegro President Jakov Milatovic, on the left, shakes hands with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in the Serbia Palace in Belgrade, Serbia, July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
“This is a legitimate challenge for the rule of Vucic and the biggest challenge that the president and his party stand for in the 13 years of their rule,” Ivanov added.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Marko Djuric, told the dedication of Fox News Digital Serbia in stability, reform and continuous growth remains unchanged. The Minister of Foreign Affairs said: “We listen, we are learning and we are determined to ensure that Serbia continues on its way of economic and democratic development.”
The protests are the most difficult to deal with from the government’s perspective and the president, Ivanov noted. The students have the Opposition party, who has no broad support from the public and is generally considered weak and ineffective.
Students throughout the country say that this is their fight, not the unpopular political opposition, which leads to a greater show of violence among the population.
“After 13 years of one individual who dominates Serbian politics and 13 years very important government institutions that cannot do their work, the most important message of these protests that we expect these institutions to do their work is good,” said Ivanov.
Safety forces began to suppress the protests, which further worsened tensions and motivated more people to join the protests.
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on Tuesday in the midst of the growing protests that flooded the nation about the collapse of a train canopy in which 15 people were killed. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Click here to get the Fox News app
Ivana Stradner, researcher at the Foundation for the defense of democracies, said Fox News Digital that the Trump administration should not fall for the usual tricks of Serbian President Vucic to try to balance between the US and its opponents.
“Vucic has allowed China’s weapons and investments to thrive in Serbia. Serbia’s close ties with Iran and Russia also undermine the interests of America. His domestic propaganda portrays the US as an enemy. Washington does not need any enemies with friends like Vucic, “Stradner warned,” warned Stradner.
