Serbia protests: ‘The people are angry, the people want justice, the people want accountability’, expert says

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00:00Our guest now, Helena Ivanov, an associate research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society

00:05think tank. She joins us from Belgrade. Hello to you, Helena. I don't know if you were able

00:09to hear our correspondent, but basically saying that President Alexander Vucic doesn't look like

00:15he's going to back down these protesters. They're not just commemorating the victims,

00:20but they're angry. So I want to ask you, where is this all headed?

00:25Well, that is a very unclear question. I think, you know, ever since the protest began,

00:29there has been a constant question of who is going to who is going to give in. And I think

00:34that a lot of people, at least at the beginning, were not necessarily super optimistic about a

00:38student movement's ability to mobilize the masses. But it's been a year. We have seen,

00:43as your correspondent said, 300,000 people gathered in March in Belgrade. We've seen 140,000 people

00:48gathered again in June. Throughout the year, we've seen people stand in 16 minute vigil on a daily

00:53basis anywhere they are. We've seen multiple different protests across the entire country.

00:57And today, 365 days after the canopy collapse, we are now seeing tens, if not hundreds of thousands

01:05will know the exact estimates as the day comes to a close, gathered again in Novi Sad. So the student

01:10movement definitely still has the momentum. The people are angry. The people want justice. The

01:15people want accountability. The government, according to some polling, is unlikely to perform as well as

01:21they would want in the elections, which is presumably why President Vucic is refusing to call for one.

01:25But I think we're very close to a point where he will have to call for elections. The country is not

01:31functioning properly. And I think people have had enough of this. I think people want out of this

01:36situation. And I think it's been pretty clear for some months now that the only way out is elections.

01:42And the idea that this movement has managed to grow to the size it has is quite remarkable in Serbia, given that the

01:50government controls all mainstream media. How did the students manage to get this rally to take place as

01:56frequently as it has and to bring in all people from society?

02:01I think one one part of it, obviously, is contextual. Serbia is a country where protests are, you know,

02:07quite common. We've had multiple rounds of massive protests during the 13 year rule of Aleksandar Vucic.

02:12We've had ones after the two mass shootings that have taken place in 2023. A few years before those,

02:18we've had one in five million protests. So protests are something which is quite common in the Serbian

02:22political life. But what I think is very different about these protests is that the students have

02:27captured the hearts and the minds of the citizens. They're not seen as ineffective or as corrupt as some

02:33members of the opposition are. They have also taken a personal sacrifice to bring about change in this

02:39country. You know, the universities have been physically blocked for more than eight months,

02:43which basically means that the students have lost an entire academic year. Moreover, they have walked

02:48throughout the country. It's hundreds and hundreds of kilometers that these young people have walked

02:52in the attempt to bring about a change. They have cycled to Strasbourg. They have ran an ultra marathon to

02:56Brussels. So they've taken a personal, you know, sacrifice to really bring about change. And I think that's

03:01something that has really captured the nation and especially older generations, which feel that if the young

03:07people are willing to put so much on the line to change this country, then how can they stay at home

03:13and and not support them? And when we see broad protest movements like this, sometimes the problem

03:19is maybe that the idea of change is vague. What are the specific demands that demonstrators have to have

03:25won over their the hearts and the minds of the people? Well, I think that's another thing which was very good

03:31for the student movement. I think in a lot of previous rounds of protests that Serbia had, as you correctly

03:36point out, the demands were really vague and basically came down to let's replace the regime

03:40of Aleksandr Vutic. I think the students have made a strategic break from that. And when the protests

03:44began, when they've entered the physical blockades of the university, they've centered the whole movement

03:49around four key demands, the most important one of which was that the entire documentation pertaining

03:55to the reconstruction of the train station be made public because there were serious allegations that the

03:59reason why the canopy collapsed at the end comes down to to corruption, which is exactly why the

04:03students said, look, we want all the papers out there. We want you to be transparent about this because we want

04:08to get to the bottom of this. And I think centering the movement around those four key demands really helped

04:14people understand what the ultimate aim is, which further gave them the motivation to continue protesting until those

04:19demands are fulfilled. However, by by May of 2025, it has become more than clear that this government has no real

04:27intention to really fulfill those demands, which is why the students have changed tune. And now their

04:32only demand is snap elections. They're basically saying that this government has no legitimacy.

04:36There are serious accusations of excessive use of force by the police during the protests.

04:40Accusations were even made that a long range acoustic device was used during the 15th March of protest in

04:45Belgrade. The students have repeatedly been called terrorists and Nazis, and they're basically saying this

04:50government has no legitimacy. We need elections and we need them now. And that's the only demand that they currently have.

04:57And do you think there's any chance the president could walk back and maybe address those four key

05:01demands to stop short of calling early elections? I very much doubt that. I know that your

05:08correspondent has mentioned that there was an apology coming from the president yesterday, but I think

05:12that there are very few reasons to believe that that apology is any shape or form sincere. The trains

05:18have been stopped across the country to disable people from coming to Novi Sad. There are reports that

05:23both water and electricity have been shut down in Novi Sad. There are reports that yesterday,

05:28as the students were arriving to Novi Sad, paid thugs likely associated with the Serbian Progressive

05:32Party, were trying to attack the students. The citizens have successfully ended their attempts

05:37to attack the students. But it is very clear that the words said by the president do not match the

05:43actions of his government or of anyone who supports the Serbian Progressive Party. In addition to that,

05:50you know, this situation has been escalating for months now, and he has continuously refused

05:55to fulfill the demands. Or alternatively, he claimed that the demands were fulfilled,

05:59only to then backtrack on those. And at this point, I just do not foresee that even the students

06:04themselves would agree to the four demands being fulfilled. I think the country is so polarized and

06:09the tensions are so high that elections now really are the only option. The only option,

06:14unless there's escalation. And some people are worried about the students themselves,

06:18the universities, the academics, some fear there could be a purge if this continues.

06:24Well, the students have made it pretty clear, and this stands correct for today as well. They do not

06:29want any of their protests to be violent. They have specifically invited citizens to think of today's

06:35protest more as a commemoration and paying tribute to the victims rather than any form of protest.

06:39So I think if any escalation does indeed occur, it is unlikely to come from the student movement.

06:45And if we look back over the last 365 days and all the protests that have been led by the students

06:50or organized by the students, violence was in none of those instances was violence instigated

06:56by the students. The one thing that we did see the students call for was civil disobedience.

07:01But even then, they have been pretty clear that any form of civil disobedience must always be

07:06nonviolent. So should any escalation occur, I do not have any reasons to believe at this point that

07:10it would be caused or motivated or called upon by the student movement.

07:14Serbia is a candidate for EU membership. How closely do you think Brussels is watching what's going on?

07:19Well, I think Brussels is watching really, really closely. We've seen Marta Kos, who is the

07:25commissioner for the expansion of the European Union, come to Serbia. She has also met with the

07:29students. I think really the institution that's been most vocal about what is going on is the

07:35European Parliament. We have a few MEPs, notably Irena Joveva, who have multiple times said that what

07:40the regime of Aleksandr Vucic is doing is illegitimate, who have openly supported the student

07:45movement. We've seen the European Parliament also publish a harshest revolution on Serbia to date.

07:51But the problem is that excluding the European Parliament, the high officials of the EU,

07:57you know, the president of the European Commission, most of what we've gotten really

08:01from them are empty statements. There hasn't really been any change of their approach towards

08:08Serbia. And yes, of course, they will always say that they're closely monitoring the country.

08:11And yes, of course, they will always say that all resolution must be peaceful. They will always invite

08:15the both sides to the dialogue, but they are not really in any shape or form choosing a side.

08:21And they continue to collaborate with with Mr. Vucic's regime, despite some pretty obvious

08:27democratic backsliding that is taking place. At the same time, it should also be noted that this

08:32government has received pretty explicit support from the Kremlin. The government of Serbia has been

08:37pushing for this narrative that these protests are a color revolution funded by the West. Obviously,

08:41there has been no evidence offered to actually support that claim. But we have heard the officials

08:45from Kremlin support this notion propagated by the Serbian government. And I really think,

08:50you know, at this point, the EU has a chance to change the way the citizens see the European Union.

08:56I think, you know, the support to join the EU has been on a steady decline for the last two years.

09:00A lot of people believe that Serbia will never join the bloc because the accession process has taken

09:05so long. And I think at this point, a lot of people who are protesting are very dissatisfied

09:10with the way in which the EU has approached this, again, with the exception of the European Parliament,

09:14because they want the EU to be more vocal and more supportive of the movement. And I think the EU now

09:19has a chance to show that it really does prioritize democracy and the rule of law in Serbia,

09:24rather than some strategic interests.

09:26Helena, thank you very much for your time. Helena Ivanov, joining us from Belgrade. Thank you.

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