Protests in Belgrade Against Serbian President

Tens of thousands gathered in a main square in the Serbian capital on Sunday to participate in a mass protest against the populist president Aleksandar Vučić and his government, whose tight grip on power has been challenged by weeks of street protests led by university students.

According to the German Press Agency, student unions and farmers’ unions organized the protest in Slavia Square in Belgrade, one of the largest demonstrations in recent years.

This protest is part of a larger movement demanding accountability following the collapse of a concrete canopy at a train station in northern Serbia on November 1, which killed 15 people.

Smaller protests were also held in the cities of Niš and Kragujevac. The protest in Belgrade began with a 15-minute silence to mourn the victims, followed by chants of “Your hands are stained with blood.”

Many in Serbia hold the government’s corruption and shoddy repairs at the Novi Sad train station responsible for the collapse. The station had been renovated twice in recent years under dubious large-scale projects involving Chinese state-owned companies.

The protesters are demanding that Vučić and those responsible for the incident be held accountable.

In a show of confidence, President Vučić opened a newly built section of a highway in central Serbia on Sunday. Vučić said he would not back down from opposition demands for a transitional government, accusing his opponents of using students to try to seize power.

He added, “We will defeat them again. They (the opposition) don’t know what to do except use other people’s children.”