How a year of protests changed Serbia and why Vučić is still in power

On 1 November, mass gatherings were held across Serbia to mark the anniversary of the Novi Sad tragedy, where in 2024, the collapse of a railway station canopy killed 16 people.

That tragedy brought tens of thousands of citizens into the streets, demanding that those responsible be punished.

The protests soon grew into a nationwide movement, driven largely by students.

And while demonstrators achieved some results, their demands evolved, now calling for the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić and new parliamentary elections.

Read more in the article by Western Balkans expert Volodymyr Tsybulnyk: Serbia is haunted by the fear of revolution: how President Vučić is gradually losing power.

On 1 November, at least 40,000 people (independent observers claim twice as many) gathered in Novi Sad, the site of the tragedy, coming from 60 towns across the country to honour the victims of government negligence.

The authorities did everything possible to reduce attendance and discredit the rally.

They refused permits for even portable toilets (something unprecedented, even during student protests), banned schools and universities from providing shelter to participants arriving from other cities, and prohibited the sale or use of tents for overnight stays. Officials also delayed permission to set up a stage near the station square and even temporarily cut off the city’s water supply.

In a particularly absurd move, the government suspended all train services, allegedly due to a bomb threat.

But there was another side of Serbia. Local villagers and residents of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Inđija and other towns fed and housed protesters and even organised free parking areas for those who drove there.

The 90-kilometre route between Belgrade and Novi Sad, travelled by thousands of students, became a powerful symbol of solidarity between Serbia’s regions.

The 1 November event did not turn into a repeat of the "Bulldozer Revolution" of 5 October 2000, which toppled Slobodan Milošević.

However, it became the second warning bell for President Vučić (the first was on 15 March, when over 300,000 people demanded his resignation). His long rule is now clearly under threat, as fatigue with his leadership spreads, something the huge turnout in Novi Sad made visible.

Most importantly, Serbians have once again shown their desire for fundamental change, not through revolution, but through democratic means via parliamentary and presidential elections likely to take place together in late 2026.

By law, Vučić cannot run for a third term, so Serbia’s next presidential candidates remain unknown.

As for the parliamentary elections, one key question concerns a student-led list. According to available information, such a list already exists about 200 names, not yet disclosed, and mostly unknown to the general public.

A platform reportedly exists,or almost exists, based on broad and somewhat vague principles.

But there are still no clear answers to essential questions: do the students support Serbia’s European integration, or a continued "friendship" with Russia? Will they ally with the opposition or run independently?

Meanwhile, Russia is not sitting idle. Moscow warned that a "Serbian Maidan" would begin in Novi Sad on 1 November, and shortly thereafter opened the Russian Historical Society in Belgrade, headed by the chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin.

The most important outcome, however, is that the protests in Novi Sad broke the psychological barrier of fear among ordinary Serbs.

The consequences of that breakthrough could come very soon.