Spanish media are reporting that students and citizens in Serbia held mass demonstrations on Saturday against the autocratic and corrupt regime of President Aleksandar Vučić, demanding snap elections, a request which Vučić has rejected.
Protest Origins and Demands
According to correspondents in Belgrade and the news agency “EFE,” Spanish media indicate that the student protest evolved into a broader Serbian citizen movement following the collapse of a canopy and the death of 16 people at the Novi Sad railway station last November. This incident was widely seen as a consequence of negligence and corruption for which no one has been punished.
The newspaper “Periódico” quoted a female student at the protest who stated that they are “seeking justice, because it could have been us and our loved ones at that station, and that is terrifying and demands justice.”
Media outlets reported that demonstrators carried banners with messages such as “Call elections, coward,” “Your hands are bloody,” and “Corruption kills.” They added that Vučić refers to the students as “terrorists,” while the protest issued a letter to the authorities demanding that “elections be called as a fundamental mechanism of any democratic society, because there is no other solution.”
Vučić’s Response and International Perception
Spanish media noted that Vučić claims the seven-month-long protests are “an attempt by Western powers to overthrow his government, because they are bothered by Serbia’s independence and economic progress.“
The newspaper “Vanguardia” assessed that the discontent and demonstrations against Vučić’s rule are “not losing strength at all.” This, the newspaper added, “is quite the opposite, confirmed by the fact that tens of thousands, and some estimate many more, gathered in Belgrade demanding that elections be held and that populist President Vučić, whom his opponents accuse of authoritarianism and corruption, resign.”
The Belgrade correspondent for the Madrid daily “El Mundo” stated that “the Serbian president is now facing the biggest challenge in street protests, because now people who are neither students nor professors are starting to organize, and snap elections are also being demanded.”
“They accuse Vučić of corruption and suppressing the media. The crowd at the demonstrations included young people, workers, and housewives from Belgrade and other places. The clash with the president has grown into a national issue,” the newspaper reported.
“El Mundo” added that “Vučić, a former extreme nationalist, has become an increasingly autocratic figure since coming to power, and now accuses foreign powers of being behind the protests. He is determined to resist and has the political reflex to do so, and his ruling coalition holds 156 out of 250 seats in parliament and wide control over media and the judiciary.“
The newspaper concluded that from the large protest in Belgrade, students and citizens issued a demand to the authorities for elections, stating that they expect that if this is not done, “Serbian citizens will be ready to initiate measures of civil disobedience to protect their fundamental right in a democratic society.”
