Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of Belgrade today as a wave of demonstrations against Serbia’s powerful president, Aleksandar Vučić, enters its fourth month.
This demonstration could be Serbia's largest since the fall of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000. At least, that's what the columns of students and Serbian citizens who have been converging on Belgrade from across the country over the past few days are hoping.
In the heart of the Serbian capital, a hundred tractors requisitioned by the regime were parked around the Presidential Palace on Friday, creating the appearance of an improvised fortress, as RFI reported. Nearby, a city park has already been occupied for several days by a mix of hooded toughs claiming to be students – who say they oppose the months-long blockade of Serbian universities by protesters – and by several dozen veterans of the Yugoslav wars.
“The government may attempt to unleash its most violent supporters against the protesters,” Vuk Vuksanović, an analyst at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told Euractiv. “But any such move would only fuel the mobilisation, especially since it is unclear whether the police and military are still fully under the control of the authorities.”
In an effort to secure the loyalty of the country’s security forces, the Serbian government passed an abrupt pay hike for Interior Ministry employees on Thursday. The authoritarian Vučić, who has held power in Serbia since 2014, has also intensified his threats, stating on 11 March in an interview with Serbia’s national broadcaster RTS that “those who commit acts of violence will end up behind bars”.
These warnings, however, have done little to deter the months-long student protests that have been demanding transparency about the deadly roof collapse at the recently renovated railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 15 people on 1 November. What began in the northern Serbian city quickly spread nationwide, with protesters also denouncing widespread government corruption.
“Aleksandar Vučić spreads fake news on social media, claiming that students are attacking the police, which is obviously false,” Aleksa Nikolić, a student at the University of Novi Sad, told Euractiv. “He is doing everything to stir up tensions, divide the population, and provoke clashes – but it is up to us to decide when this movement will end.”
In a bid to quell public anger, the Serbian president dismissed his prime minister, Miloš Vučević, in late January after a student was beaten by members of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Since then, Vučić has struggled to regain control, facing a movement without a clearly identified leader that has deliberately distanced itself from major opposition parties.
“The key question now is how to channel this anger into political action,” the Belgrade-based novelist and philosopher Igor Štiks told Euractiv. “The only option currently on the table is the formation of a transitional technical government, whose main task would be to organise free elections.”
Vučić’s international backers
Despite mounting street opposition, Vučić continues to enjoy tacit support from major European capitals that have business interests in Serbia, including Berlin and Paris, as well as from EU institutions – although the Socialists and Democrats group (SD) in the European Parliament has echoed the student demands.
The Serbian president also enjoys the help of his American counterpart, Donald Trump, who this week did not hesitate to send his eldest son, Donald Jr., to Belgrade. The visit followed last year’s agreement with an investment firm run by Jared Kushner – Trump's son-in-law – which plans to build a hotel on the site of the former Yugoslav People’s Army headquarters, damaged during the 1999 NATO bombing of Belgrade.
Vučić can also take pride in his close ties with Moscow, as Belgrade has never enforced EU sanctions against Russia, despite Serbia holding official EU candidate status since 2012. Just days ago, Vučić stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin supported “the legitimate authorities of Serbia”.
[BTS]