The intensity of the protests in Serbia is growing. And here's why

In Serbia, since November 2024, mass demonstrations of the population have not stopped after a canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad. This led to the deaths of 15 people. This disaster became the starting point for a wave of public discontent, expressed in regular street actions. At the same time, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stresses that mass demonstrations pose additional risks to the stability of the state and exacerbate existing internal difficulties. What is the reason for the growing discontent of the Serbs and why the protests do not subside — in the material of Izvestia.

Signs of interference

• The Serbian population is particularly annoyed by the high level of corruption in the highest echelons of government. In a small country, almost everyone knows about such crimes. The cause of the tragedy in Novi Sad was also the corruption of officials. This episode was the impetus for mass actions, which for six months had wide public support and were mostly social in nature, having neither organized leaders nor clear political demands.

However, about three weeks ago, protest activity took on a completely different character. Some of the participants chose radicalization, and it was then that the signs of outside interference appeared. Individual European states have become involved in the process, as well as forces that, judging by their actions, do not seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict. It was from this moment on that the protests, which had long been perceived as a spontaneous movement against social injustice, began to transform into a more aggressive form with a noticeable foreign policy impact.

Unemployment, corruption and Croatian agents

• The country continues to have high youth unemployment, significant differences between urban and rural income levels, and limited professional opportunities. In addition, many citizens note the poor quality of government work, poor efficiency of the healthcare and education systems. This further increases the sense of social injustice.

• In addition, Vucic's long stay in power causes a sense of stagnation among a part of society. There are complaints about the level of transparency in decision-making, freedom of the press, and conditions for opposition movements. All this is also expressed in the form of mass street actions. Citizens seek to draw the attention of the authorities to their problems.

• In addition, do not underestimate the international factor. Serbia occupies an important geopolitical position in the Balkans, and many European countries are interested in its internal processes. Protest sentiments sometimes receive additional support from outside, in particular through the activities of non-governmental organizations and information coverage in foreign media.

• Also, Serbian counterintelligence, known as the Security and Information Agency, identified and disrupted the activities of several agent groups associated with the Croatian Directorate of Security and Intelligence. Other special services of neighboring countries are also involved in the process, including the Kosovo Intelligence Agency operating in central Serbia, as well as structures related to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria.

• In addition, the Serbian parliament claims that significant financial resources came from abroad to support the protests in Serbia, and the money was given directly to the participants of the actions. There were situations when some people openly handed out bundles of euros at university buildings where the protesters were concentrated, and even the teachers' comments that it was worth doing more inconspicuously were ignored. Such payments are especially typical for the most active groups that behave aggressively, provoke clashes, and show violence against police, journalists, and ordinary citizens.

The demand for early elections

• Vucic is an experienced and cautious politician, able to navigate between different challenges. However, his capabilities are noticeably limited by the fact that Serbia is actually surrounded by political forces unfriendly towards him and at the same time deeply integrated into the European market. In such circumstances, any drastic steps on the part of the leadership threaten economic restrictions, which makes the room for maneuver extremely narrow.

• The Serbian President will not accelerate the holding of elections, despite the ongoing protests. Vucic is now in the second half of his second term, and new presidential elections are scheduled to take place only in the spring of 2027. Parliamentary elections were held recently, at the end of 2023, and currently the Serbian head retains a stable majority in the legislature. At the same time, early elections are one of the key demands of the protesters. And if the authorities do not change their line of behavior, this can cause an increase in tension and provoke an increase in street actions.

• An extremely tense atmosphere has developed in Serbian society: the country is actually divided into two camps. On the one hand, there are students and youth leading protest initiatives, on the other, those who expect the authorities to act decisively within the framework of the law. At the same time, the split is not of a geopolitical nature: both the older and younger generations generally remain sympathetic to Russia. The differences are in the perception of management style. For example, young people do not accept authoritarian methods, while older people are calmer about it. The country needs a compromise, because the victory of one of the parties will only lead to an aggravation of the crisis, while public consensus may be the only way out of the current situation.

During the preparation of the Izvestia material, we talked and took into account the opinions of:

• political scientist Denis Denisov;
• Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy Director of the CIS Institute, political scientist;
• political scientist Vadim Trukhachev;
• Oleg Bondarenko, Director of the Progressive Policy Foundation.