The Debrief: A deadly collapse, corruption and protests in Serbia

A student movement fueled by public support is challenging Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s government to release crucial evidence surrounding a deadly roof collapse at a railway station. Questions loom over how much Vucic will give in to their demands, and whether that will be enough to end the protests.

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When more than 200 tons of concrete collapsed over the entrance of a recently renovated railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia, on Nov. 1, 2024, fatally crushing 15 people, Serbians were quick to blame negligence and corruption. In the months that followed, widespread protests have called for access to documents around the renovations, across-the-board accountability, and justice for the railway station disaster, which a slow release of evidence suggests was the result of systematic failures under the watch of multiple government functionaries, including President Aleksandar Vucic.

The documents have a story to tell. The concrete canopy that collapsed on unsuspecting people weighed some 25 tons heavier than its original design, and the firm tasked with reconstruction did not have access to the complete 1963 plans, which included vital load-bearing calculations for the section where the collapse occurred. The train station also reopened without the required technical inspection. Since the disaster, multiple watchdogs have expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding government contracts with Chinese companies.

“The Novi Sad railway collapse acted as a flash point, a catalyst, but these protests are so incredibly broad and incredibly anti-establishment,” Factal editor and Eastern Europe specialist James Morgan said.

The protests are led by students, who have mobilized in an organized, democratic, and transparent manner that many Serbians want to see their government to emulate, to hold the government accountable for an incident they see as preventable, had it not been for corruption driven by personal gain. Prosecutors are questioning the unexplained ballooning of project costs and whether procurement laws were sidelined to hire preferred contractors and subcontractors.

“There’s no singular leader, there’s no figurehead, there’s no kind of opposition leader, so to speak”

The day after the canopy collapsed, students launched a blockade at the University of Novi Sad’s philosophy department, starting a blueprint for the movement that spread to other departments then to universities nationwide. Daily protests continue, and last for hours with different teams carrying out a range of tasks to ensure every need is covered, from supplies to traffic safety.

“There’s no singular leader, there’s no figurehead, there’s no kind of opposition leader, so to speak,” Morgan said. “I think that’s what’s made the protest movement very attractive in Serbia. There’s a sense that there’s a sort of real democratic process going on.”

Students have consistently raised the stakes with each move. After bringing major universities to a halt by occupying departments, the mobilization moved onto the streets. Tens of thousands flooded roads for mass rallies blocking the center of cities.

The demand for answers and a revamping of the rule of law in Serbia has resonated outside of academia. When groups of students walked miles to join rallies in Novi Sad and other cities, cheering residents fed them and opened their homes. On one occasion, cab drivers rolled up in large numbers to drive students back from a Novi Sad rally to Belgrade.

“Another aspect of the protest that has made them so popular and served as a sort of call to arms for many different people around Serbia is the fact that they’ve been very, very peaceful on the part of the students – the only violence we’ve seen has been odd attacks on student groups,” Morgan said.

On Jan. 24, a driver rammed a car into protesters in Belgrade where thousands had gathered, injuring at least one person. A few nights later, during a blockade in the capital, two men purportedly from Vucic’s party attacked students creating protest posters before brutally assaulting another group, this time using baseball bats.

“Those sorts of attacks are seen as kind of orchestrated by the Serbian authorities against the student movement with the view to intimidate and undermine them,” Morgan said. “And they’ve really had the opposite effect.”

“Another aspect of the protest that has made them so popular and served as a sort of call to arms for many different people around Serbia is the fact that they’ve been very, very peaceful on the part of the students”

In an effort to appease the growing crowds, Serbia’s government launched a slow-moving investigation into the rail station disaster, arresting a former official on suspicion of corruption and, on Jan. 29, Prime Minister Milos Vuvcevic became the highest-ranking official to resign in relation to the collapse. Vuvic then announced that his party would put forward a new government or call snap elections within 10 days, though he appears hesitant to follow through.

The unwillingness of the students to accept performative placebos combined with the ghost of leaders toppled by protests past might well be why. And Serbia’s strong economy gives Vucic leeway to potentially weather this uprising.

Vucic has tried other tactics, including attempts to discredit the movement by linking them to fascist dictators. His administration also blamed “external” forces for attempting a “color revolution” — protest movements that in the past triggered the toppling of strongman regimes.

“This idea that it’s not an aspect of self-determination of the Serbian people, that they’re somehow being controlled from outside has fueled the protests even more,” Morgan said.

Vucic, meanwhile, hasn’t indicated any further plans to call elections, instead calling for dialogue with the protesters, which the students rejected.

“It hasn’t really placated the movement to any great or significant extent,” Morgan said.

Despite the student protesters calling for accountability and justice, there is no clear sense of what Vucic can do that students might consider as sufficient to wrap up the blockades and end the protests. And his potential response to future protests also remains unclear.

“I can’t see Serbia going the same way as Georgia, for example, where Georgia targets protest leaders, as the Serbian authorities have realized that this is far too high profile and it’s far too high risk to resort to intimidation tactics at this time,” Morgan said. “Things to watch out for, because they’ll end up being catalysts for more protests, are whether or not Vucic decides to declare snap elections, and if he declares snap elections, and we still have protests, then that creates a massive question mark.”

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