Student protests in Serbia against the government are not stopping. President Aleksandar Vučić categorically refuses to schedule new elections, and the dissatisfaction of the people in the country is growing.
Reporters are not welcome in the Pioneer Park in Belgrade. Between the buildings of the presidency and the parliament is the tent camp of protesting students, but Serbian media claim that there are quite a few paid protesters among them.
„You shouldn't be here. The boys will come now and kick you out," a man in a tracksuit and slippers tells the DW reporter. „The boys" are suspicious types, often linked to criminal circles and acting as a kind of security service in the area.
This camp, which is wanted by the government and tolerated by the police, continues to block the center of Belgrade. It symbolizes what has been happening in Serbia for months.
It arose in response to the student university blockades and the largest civil protests in the history of Serbia - it includes the “counterstudents”, opponents of the protesting students.
Vučić demonizes the students
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party are making efforts to present the real protests as a “color revolution”, organized from abroad. As an obstacle to the development of Serbia, as a burden on the ordinary population. The protesting students and the opposition want new elections - but Vucic has no intention of fulfilling their wish.
“Elections suit us now, but they will not be good for the country. The protesters do not realize this, they are only interested in how to get more money. They have never been interested in the country, let alone the people,”, the president pointed out.
The protests began seven months ago, when the poorly repaired roof of the Novi Sad train station collapsed, killing 16 people. Critics point out that the tragedy is the result of negligent construction and corruption in the administration.
Meanwhile, Serbian universities have been blocked for six months. Thousands of small and large protests have been organized, students walked to Brussels and cycled to Strasbourg - with messages to the European Union. State television, which students see as the government's mouthpiece, was also blocked for days.
Students have stirred up society
Now, however, the protests are at a crossroads. The academic year is under threat. The state is no longer paying teachers' salaries because they are "not working." And it is not at all clear how high school graduates will be able to enroll in university.
"It is difficult to say that the government has overcome the main blow of the protests unscathed," says political scientist Filip Balunovic. Major projects considered hotbeds of corruption continue to be implemented - such as preparations for the World Expo, which is due to be held in Belgrade in 2027. Or the plans to supply Germany with lithium - despite the active resistance of the population.
“It seems that a lot of changes have taken place - more people are speaking out against the government, the students' tactics are clever. That's why this mobilization wave has lasted so long. The consciousness of society - and of the students - has changed,” Balunović points out to DW.
Gifts before the local elections
The rare independent polls so far show that about two-thirds of citizens sympathize with the protests. The first real test will take place this Sunday, in the local elections in the towns of Zajčar and Koserić. Observers speak of an unbearable government campaign being carried out on the ground, of sudden asphalting of streets, of gifts and vote buying.
Small, poor areas like Zajčar and Koserić were previously considered strongholds of the Serbian Progressive Party. Critics say the population there can be manipulated particularly easily. "This is a matter of life and death," opposition politician Uglisa Djurkovic from Zajčar told DW. According to her, the government has no real support, but is trying to "buy people, threaten them, blackmail them and force them to vote."
Control over money and the media
Vucic has ruled Serbia with a firm hand for 13 years - as prime minister and as president. His party's power is based on control over the distribution of public sector jobs. And the obedient media. Many of the functionaries maintain close contacts with organized crime.
The response to the protests has been a combination of demonizing students and teachers, beatings and individual concessions. The collapse of the Novi Sad train station roof led to the arrest of several high-ranking officials, and in January the Serbian prime minister resigned.
But the president continues to reject the demand for new elections, although he has resolved previous crises in this way. The students, on the other hand, want their own movement, without the unpopular opposition, but led by professors and well-known activists. “Obviously, the polls show Vučić that he is in no better position than a possible student electoral list,” Balunović believes, adding: “All attempts so far to discredit the students have proved fruitless”.
Serbia is officially a candidate for EU membership, but in practice it is stalling. Its Achilles heel is the judiciary, which is entirely in the hands of the Vučić regime. But so far, official EU representatives and leading European governments have remained silent on the issue. With some European leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, Vučić holds regular meetings to arrange lucrative arms deals and infrastructure projects such as the construction of the Belgrade metro.
Students declare civil disobedience
According to Balunović, whenever elections are held, the regime will try to resort to open violence to stay in power. He recalls that in the 1990s, Vučić was a minister in Slobodan Milošević's government - during the brutal wars in the former Yugoslavia. "If it comes to that, the leading European countries will no longer be able to remain as shamefully silent as they have been until now," says Balunović.
The students are still maintaining their blockades, and in the votes in many faculties the majority declared themselves in favor of this. The government will have a hard time defeating them, as the protesters have no clear leader whom the tabloid press can tear apart. The student movement in Serbia is democratic and organized without hierarchy.
The students' latest declaration sounds decisive: if Vučić does not agree to new elections, a wave of disobedience will follow. "We will stand before the institutions, before the ministry, before the television stations that want to silence us. We will not hinder any citizen, but lies, injustice and corruption," the students declare.
What exactly are they planning? This remains a secret for now - a tried and tested method for attacking Vučić's regime.