One of the new “citizen meetings” in Belgrade on Tuesday evening.Image: keystone
In the Serbian capital Belgrade, thousands of people demonstrated against the government’s failings in schools and universities.
01/28/2026, 04:3001/28/2026, 04:30
The demonstrators heard speeches from university and school leaders who denounced the neglect of education and the repression of critics under Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a reporter from the dpa news agency observed. The Serbian student movement called for the rally under the motto “Knowledge is power”.
The rally was part of the broad protest movement triggered by the collapse of the train station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad in November 2024. The students leading the protests blamed the accident that left 16 dead on the Vucic government’s sloppiness and corruption. This reacted to the university occupations, road blockades and large-scale demonstrations with violence, arbitrary arrests and the dismissal of sympathizing teachers.
“Never before has a government been so violent and vicious towards the academic world just because it no longer wanted to remain silent,” said the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Djokic, in his speech on Tuesday evening. Vladimir Ristic, a dismissed principal of a primary school in Pancevo near Belgrade, emphasized: “Education should enable people to think, to form judgments and to participate in society, not to be silent.” He stands here today “as a man who refuses to betray your future,” he added.
Gatherings with content instead of protests
The students had occupied practically all universities in Serbia for a good year. In November they ended the blockades of university operations. Meanwhile, they are concentrating their energies on the political fight to force early elections. According to polls, the Vucic camp could lose them. The students no longer want their street demonstrations to be seen as protests, but as citizens’ meetings at which they want to address issues such as education. (sda/dpa)