Protesters before the government’s building on May 1, 2025 in Belgrade.Image: AFP
More than 6000 people, according to the authorities, went down to the street in Belgrade and Novi Sad. A first, several months after a fatal accident in a station which sparked a wave of demonstrations against corruption.
01.05.2025, 23:1501.05.2025, 23:15
More “international”
This Thursday, in Belgrade and Novi Sad, Serbia, thousands of people on Thursday, thousands of people demonstrated at the call of students and unions, a first in the country, six months after a fatal accident in a station which sparked an immense movement of protest against corruption.
The tragedy that occurred on November 1 when the concrete awning at Novi Sad station collapsed, killing 16 children, two children, triggered a wave of demonstrations. These rallies which have never weakened have been transformed into a vast contestation of the system and corruption, The largest in Serbia for decades, with spearhead students.
“Putting pressure”
Several thousand people, families, retirees or young people, converged in Belgrade in the early afternoon in a whistle concert, in front of the government offices. The demonstrators displayed Serbian flags but also of trade union organizations, in particular automotive or energy sectors, as well as many tagged badges Pumpaj (Putting pressure), one of the rallying cries of the movement.
The rally brought together 18,000 people according to the estimates of an independent counting organization, 6,200 according to the authorities, before dissolving in the early evening.
To the claims of students – prosecution against the accidents of the accident at Novi SAD station, abandonment of charges against students arrested during demonstrations – are now added requests on the legislation of the right to strike, brought loud and clear Thursday by the demonstrators.
-Government message
“The main message is intended for the Serbian government to urgently adopt a new labor law and a new strike law,” said union leader Zeljko Veselinovic.
Many teachers who support students have been without salary for monthsdue to wandering laws allowing principals not to pay them, even if they are not on strike.
Echoing the union representative, a student also evokes a union of forces over time. Anja Despotovic, in the fourth year at the electrical engineering faculty of Belgrade, assures:
“We are not tired and we are not going to stop. This joint gathering is the first step towards strengthening this cooperation between students and unions and towards a certain future radicalization. ”
Drama
Earlier in the day, several thousand people gathered at 11:52 am, at the time of the drama that struck Novi Sad station, to pay tribute to the victims, the Beta agency reported.
Since the drama, Serbia has known almost a demonstration per dayfrom Belgrade, where hundreds of thousands of people paraded, even in the smallest villages.
Students tirelessly walked, taken their bikes and pedaling over long distances to publicize their fight even in isolated places where only the media close to power are accessible, but also until European bodies in Strasbourg or Brussels.
Pressure has led to the resignation of the Prime Minister and to the fall of the government. In response, President Aleksandar Vucic alternated calls for dialogue and accusations that students are trying to lead a “color revolution”. (AG/ATS
