Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has once again invited representatives of the student protest movement to a dialogue, despite months of branding them as “terrorists,” “foreign agents,” and “state destroyers” with whom, he previously insisted, negotiations were impossible.
On July 9, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) wrote on its official X account: “There are no negotiations with terrorists and those who want to destroy the state.” Yet, in a sharp political turnaround, Vučić on Saturday extended another invitation to student leaders for talks.
From Threats to Calls for Talks
The president’s rhetoric toward protesters has been hostile from the start. During the first major student rally on December 21, 2024, held outside the Presidential Palace, Vučić famously said:
“If I came out to insult them, to fight them, or to send the ‘Cobras’ to scatter them, it would not take more than six or seven seconds.”
In August 2025, members of the elite “Cobras” unit clashed with protesters in Novi Sad, though the confrontation ended with only minor injuries. Over the past three and a half months, Vučić has repeatedly dismissed demands for elections while labeling protesters as violent extremists orchestrating a “color revolution”.
Escalating Accusations
On May 20, Vučić posted on Instagram, hailing four SNS activists accused of assaulting a student who suffered a broken jaw in Novi Sad:
“Freedom to heroes! Prison for blockade terrorists!”
Just days earlier, at a rally in Niš, he declared that he had no intention of calling elections, saying: “That story is finished.”
Ahead of the Vidovdan protest in June, when students issued an ultimatum for elections, Vučić compared their demands to ultimatums imposed on Serbia by foreign powers:
“Serbia is not a handful of grain to be devoured.”
Following that rally, he accused foreign powers of orchestrating the protests and warned that “violence will not be tolerated.”
“Final Answer of the State”
Only last week, after fresh demonstrations led to clashes between protesters, SNS activists, and police, Vučić warned:
“It is only a matter of days before they kill someone. The state will respond decisively.”
He then promised a “final answer of the state”, suggesting that security forces would temporarily step back, only to later return with full force.
A Sudden Shift
Despite this months-long hardline stance, Vučić has now invited students to dialogue – a move seen by critics as contradictory, given that he continues to describe them as violent extremists. Student groups, however, have already rejected his proposal for talks.
The sharp contrast between Vučić’s past statements and his current call for dialogue raises a key question: Can genuine negotiations happen between a president who branded protesters as “terrorists” and the very students who accuse his party of violence and repression?
