Protests in Serbia are not subsiding, indicating that many citizens are unwilling to wait for regular elections and demand them immediately, according to German-language media reports following the protests and clashes on Vidovdan.
Reports on Clashes and Protest Scale
Germany’s largest news agency, dpa, reported on “arrests and injuries in violent clashes between police and demonstrators during mass protests against the authorities in Belgrade,” as conveyed by Deutsche Welle. The report stated that around 140,000 people participated in the protests, though authorities claimed a significantly lower number, approximately 36,000.
“Demonstrators traveled from all over the country to Belgrade on Saturday. Many held Serbian flags and signs with the name of their town,” the agency wrote, recalling that “Serbia has been shaken by the strongest protests since the 1990s for over half a year. The trigger was the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad Railway Station last November, which killed 16 people.” Authorities are under strong pressure, dpa assessed. It was reported that students accuse the authorities of violence, claiming they could have resolved the political crisis by calling elections.
Criticism of Vučić’s Control and Tactics
The public broadcaster ARD, in an agency report on its portal, recalled that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić “has been steering the country since 2012, changing functions.” “He controls the media, as well as the judiciary and police. Opposition members are denigrated in the media, state institutions intimidate them, and thug groups attack them,” the report stated.
ARD added, “Recently, Vučić has intensified pressure on the protest movement. Participants and sympathizers are arrested on dubious pretexts, and university employees’ salaries have been drastically cut.” Similar reports were also carried by other major portals, such as the weeklies Zeit, Spiegel, and Stern, and the daily newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Welt.
Escalation and Symbolism of Vidovdan
Writing about the Vidovdan rally, Süddeutsche Zeitung on its portal stated that the “front between Serbian authorities and protesting students has further intensified.” It recalled that students promised “civil disobedience,” which Süddeutsche described as a “new strategy to force early parliamentary elections.”
The Swiss public broadcaster SRF noted the symbolism of Vidovdan: “It is a religious day commemorating the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, a symbol of Serbian identity and resistance.” The next regular elections are not due for another two years, SRF wrote, concluding: “But the ongoing protests show that many Serbians do not want to wait that long.”
