On December 28, from north to south and east to west, student booths will be set up across the country in order to collect signatures in support of the students’ call for snap parliamentary elections. Students note that their goal goes beyond signature collection and extends to building connections with the broader population.
Jared Kushner’s proposed “Trump Tower” will not be built on the site of the former Yugoslav Army headquarters, known as the General Staff complex, The Wall Street Journal reported on December 15. People in Serbia are celebrating while the country’s president has threatened criminal charges against all those who took part in the destruction of this “investment opportunity.” Mašina spoke to architects and activists, who emphasized that it was public pressure that led to this result and commented on what the next steps should be for the cultural heritage site.
To mark the anniversary of the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station, commemorative gatherings will be held this weekend in more than 50 cities around the world, organized by Serbian citizens living abroad. The November 1 gatherings will take place in about 15 cities across the United States, several in Australia, and multiple cities in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Austria, Italy, and other European countries.
November 1 marks one year since the recently renovated railway canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people. The city is expected to host a large protest, and the atmosphere is one of anxious anticipation. Thousands of students will march from Belgrade to Novi Sad, receiving a grandiose welcome, as has happened countless times before. Will this protest mark a new beginning for the student movement?
The grassroots initiative “Release them ALL!” has published a database showing that since November 1, 2024, over 900 people have been detained. On the other hand, the number of criminal convictions is negligible. Mašina spoke with Lawyers Rodoljub Šabić and Ivan Ninić on this phenomenon. The vast majority of these arrests are resolved within 48 hours, often without indictments being filed – which the initiative believes serves as a way to exhaust and intimidate protestors. The full database is available at this link.
An independent laboratory analysis conducted by students of the Faculty of Sciences (PMF) in Novi Sad shows that at a protest on September 5, police officers deployed chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, known as CN gas. CN gas is a more dangerous variant than the usual tear gas, chloroacetophenone which is known as CS gas.
Once again, tear gas, arrests, and beatings characterized Friday’s protest in Novi Sad. Under the slogan “Serbia, can you hear us?” protesters marched to the Faculty of Philosophy, where police had been stationed for ten days but have since dispersed. Approximately 20,000 people attended the protest, according to the Archive of Public Gatherings, which has catalyzed a new wave of protests including one today called by students today in downtown Belgrade.
Almost 90 percent of young people in Serbia support student protests and university blockades, and more than 90 percent would vote in parliamentary elections if they were held next week, according to the Alternative Report on the Position and Needs of Youth 2025. However, 62 percent believe that elections are neither free nor fair, while as many as 95 percent negatively assess the government’s response to student demonstrations.
All day, police blocked the entrance to the State University in Novi Pazar (DUNP), a Muslim-majority city in southeastern Serbia. In the early hours this morning, masked individuals forcibly removed student protesters from the building, leaving one student injured. As students from across the country flocked in support, students regained access to the building and chanted “Victory!” Citizens are now organizing protest blockades across the country in solidarity.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade has announced that it has given an order to the First Instance Public Prosecutor’s Office to form a case regarding the alleged misappropriation of property from the Student Cultural Center.
The government’s tactic of pretending not to notice civil rebellion and a comprehensive social and political crisis, i.e. to play the waiting game over a long period of time has, at least it appears so, started to work. Summer’s begun, the intensity of protests has gone down, the students are slowly returning to their academic duties. Despite everything though, small fires of resistance are continuing to ignite, mostly on the local level. What remains is the question of how to continue, that is, how to fulfill the main demand put before the regime – the calling of snap parliamentary elections?
Despite the administration denying it, the destruction of the Belgrade fair complex has unofficially begun. Students have called on citizens to gather in front of Sajam on 17th of July, so they could, as they state, stop “the destruction of another symbol of our city.” During the action, police detained one student and two citizens.
Classes are formally starting, quotas have been approved, and entrance exams set. In some places, online classes are being met with boycotts while university students are met with repression. Still, the fight for autonomy of universities and a just society is not stopping with the instatement of online classes – it’s just transforming.
The magistrates’ court in Užice accepted the appeal of the defenders of the arrested and granted bail for the seven arrested last week in Užice
“No one is tired!” can be heard, almost by default, at every protest, blockade or organized action of civil disobedience across Serbia. Citizens, fueled by the student movement’s energy, use this slogan to make it clear to the current regime that no extreme heat, increased repression or eight months of relentless struggle will stop them. The question that remains is – how?
The student protest on St. Vitus Day, a significant national and religious holiday in Serbia, was held on Saturday in Belgrade. 140,000 people joined while supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party gathered in their counter protest in Pionirski Park. Here’s a breakdown of what followed.
Students blockading their universities yesterday filed a criminal complaint against the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, for what they describe as an unauthorized visit to an intensive care unit on March 17, when he visited North Macedonian citizens who were severely burned and injured in a fire in the city of Kočani.
In a video published by students blockading universities, the Rector of the University of Belgrade and other professors stated that, for the first time in 200 years, a decision has not yet been made regarding the enrollment of a new generation of students.
The Higher Court in Novi Sad has again extended the detention of activists Davor Stefanović, Mladen Cvijetić, and Srđan Đurić by another 30 days, after they have already spent two full months in prison. Davor Stefanović was beaten in prison and has a broken nose, according to reports.
Today, the defense’s appeal to free the six imprisoned activists was officially accepted by the court and will now be considered. Organizers gave court employees unimpeded access to enter the building until 11 a.m. to perform their duties, but employees were ordered by superiors to exit the building by 10:30 a.m.
On May 13, the Higher Court in Novi Sad announced it was extending the detention of six members of the Free Citizens Movement and the activist organization “Stav” by 30 days.
