It was one moment which sparked the protests gripping Serbia in 2025. November 1, 2024 happened when a newly repaired train station canopy in Novi Sad collapsed and this resulted in the deaths of 16 people and an additional injury. The first response of the government was to say that the incident was a technical failure but further investigations proved that corruption, use of poor quality materials, and political interference existed in the awarding of the contract of the renovations.
The tragedy turned out to be more than an infrastructure failure. It was a solidification to many Serbians of years of frustration over a government of cronyism, authoritarianism, and neglect. In a few days, students at the university started staging vigils and silent marches. By March 2025 the protests had developed into a national movement.
Youth rise amid broken trust
It was surprising that students turned out to be the leaders of the movement. They held marches in more than 400 cities and towns, used blockades and transformed schools into a center of civil discussions. The moments of silence every day at 11:52 AM, the hour of the collapse became an effective act of protest.
What surprised many was the depth of intergenerational support. Pensioners marched beside teenagers. Workers provided food and shelter. A nation that has been largely torn apart on a political and ethnic front was, at least temporarily, swept together by mutual sorrow and collective demand for transformation.
Government response: repression replaces dialogue
Vučić’s rhetoric and securitization
President Aleksandar Vučić’s government responded by attempting to reframe the protests as foreign manipulation. In over 100 televised addresses since January 2025, he portrayed the movement as a “color revolution” financed by Western intelligence services, warning that “violence will be met with violence.”
The state media with the support of the government tried to delegitimize protests as stoppers and illegal. Any opposition was labeled as “traitors” and flouting any form of protest such as displaying placards, chanting hymns or singing any protest song was considered subversive.
Escalating force against citizens
The law-enforcement authorities have clamped down with police force. Co-ordinated arrests of 79 protesters took place across Belgrade, Ni s and Kragujevac on July 3, 2025. Police used tear gas, stun grenades, and the even more controversial Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) which is a sonic gun whose deployment was forbidden in various countries of the EU.
More than 100 individuals complained of healthiness problems due to exposure to LRAD. Students from the University of Belgrade were hospitalized with burns and neurological symptoms. According to civil rights monitors, detainees were not given access to an attorney and they were intimidated.
Most controversially perhaps, Vučić has pardoned four activists of his own party that had beaten a female student in the protests. This ruling destroyed the trust of the people in the legal systems of Serbia and this led to fresh protests in front of the Ministry of Justice.
Information control and counter-mobilization
Mainstream media has played a leading role in influencing what people think. The big broadcasters did not carry any coverage of the protests, preferring music contests and cooking shows at the height of the protests. In the interim, counter-demonstrations were organized, usually by government employees presented as students, or veterans, with assistance of local government, sometimes on high school campuses.
Protesters complained that they were being investigated, being tracked, and refused medical or educational facilities. Some of the university professors who had aided the protests through student interviews and questioned authorities, had been brought on disciplinary lines and fired.
The international response and regional significance
Council of Europe raises concerns
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, publicly condemned the Serbian government’s approach.
“I am concerned about the current human rights situation in Serbia,”
he said during a visit in April 2025.
“Despite the assurances I received from the authorities, excessive force is being applied to curb demonstrations.”
O’Flaherty emphasised that the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are safeguarded by the European convention on human rights which Serbia ratified in 2004. Weapons that fire sonic devices to control crowds and detention of minors were also the subject of his criticism.
His position was reflected by the UN Human Rights Office which asked authorities in Serbia to exercise restraint and not violate the civic space. However, no concrete sanctions or policy measures have followed these statements.
Civil society and international frustration
Human rights groups, both domestic and international, have expressed frustration with the muted global response. Ivana Randjelovic from Civil Rights Defenders remarked,
“The EU has long criticised Serbia for its lack of democratic reforms. Now that a mass movement in the country is demanding exactly that, the silence is striking.”
Her concern reflects a wider sentiment. Although the protest movement in Serbia has been compared to the Belarus of the 2020s or Ukraine of 2014, the statements of the European Union on the issue have been unspecific and non-idle. This quietness poses a dangerous prospect that candidate countries could be allowed to repress because of stability in the region.
This individual has also addressed the subject in an interview where she pointed at the role of digital authoritarianism in drowning out opposition in Serbia.
If you’re following the Balkans..
— Ivana Stradner (@ivanastradner) May 29, 2023
“@NATO peacekeeping soldiers formed security cordons around three town halls in Kosovo on Monday as police clashed with Serb protesters, while Serbia's president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.” @Reuters
The Kremlin is… pic.twitter.com/YWHopna8ly
Protest legacy and democratic crossroads
Historical echoes and modern methods
The civic unrest that is taking place in Serbia is not created out of thin air. Popular resistance is quite deep rooted in the country; the student protests which took place in 1996-1997 and the protests in 2000 that brought about the overthrow of Slobodan Miloševic.
However, in contrast with the previous events, the 2025 protests are decentralized, online-organized, and kept active by means of nonviolent discipline. Activists have not linked themselves to any political party but position themselves as protectors of constitutionalism and not ideology. Their slogans touch on dignity, justice and accountability of the institution.
Challenges to systemic change
Even though there is momentum, the structural barriers are strong. Media, the justice system and elections are tightly controlled by judges and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Vote-rigging and gerrymandering is persistent and civil society is not fully funded.
There have been challenges of the opposition parties to organize a coherent strategy as they basically support the movement. As one cannot reduce the danger of exhaustion and marginalization without the political vehicles that can translate the demands expressed through protest into electoral resources, the months ahead are going to be tough.
Technology and transnational solidarity
Social media as a tool of empowerment
Digital platforms have become vital for protest organization. Apps like Telegram and WhatsApp help coordinate actions, while X serves as the primary venue for protest coverage and fact-checking government narratives.
Footage of police violence, real-time maps of protest sites, and guides for avoiding surveillance circulate daily. Hashtags such as #NoviSadJustice and #StudentiZaSlobodu have trended regionally, helping the movement gain visibility beyond Serbia’s borders.
Diaspora engagement and advocacy
Serbian diaspora communities have mobilized protests in Berlin, Brussels, and New York. In some cases, they have organized legal aid and psychological support for detained students. Their lobbying efforts have also put pressure on EU lawmakers to address Serbia’s domestic crisis more forcefully.
This transnational engagement illustrates the extent to which Serbia’s internal struggle resonates abroad. Many in the diaspora see these protests not just as a national reckoning, but as a defining moment for the country’s democratic aspirations.
What remains of Serbia’s democratic promise?
Protests that started with mourning in Novi Sad have now turned into the symbolic test of autocratic endurance with democratic aspiration. Political apathy is nothing more than a symptom of sustained disenfranchisement and not an endemic To be dominated by isolation and left out of the socio-economic structures deeply rooted in Serbia, the youth of the country had to use the methods of political inaction, which is a newfound quality in Serbian young people. Their awakening has emboldened a nation and other countries to question what 21 st century civic power might be.
However, the reaction of the regime, full of violence, manipulation and propaganda, testifies how far the regime will come to preserve power. The Serbian protest movement is in danger of becoming an isolated movement unless there is more resolute support at the international level. However, even in the condition of repression, people go out to march.
It is a question whether their valor will be paid back in the form of systematic change or will be silenced by the state authority. But as the reading went on one of the protest placards that were waved in Republic Square said, “If not now, when?” One might not have an answer today, but the whole world is looking, and the new phase of Serbia is yet being written on the streets.