By Ivana Sekularac
BELGRADE, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Aleksa Simic, a political science student at Belgrade University, did not hesitate when he learned that the collapse of a railway station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad had killed 16 people in November 2024.
Demanding justice for the dead, and an end to the kind of corruption that many believed led to the station's shoddy construction, he and other students blockaded the political science faculty in protest. As Serbia mourned, sympathetic
residents brought them homemade meals, mattresses and pillows. Many stopped by to discuss the students' demands.
"For the first time, I had a sense of belonging to a community. I realised that my voice mattered," Simic said.
Two years on, as Serbia prepares for elections on October 25, the student protest movement has ballooned to become one of the most powerful political forces in the country and poses the greatest threat yet to the rule of Aleksandar Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics first as prime minister, then president, since 2014.
With protests raging in cities across Europe, fuelled by the high cost of living, a shortage of jobs and poor education standards, the Serbian students have shown what a force younger generations can be when they harness widespread discontent.
In interviews with Reuters, a dozen students and teachers described how a methodical countrywide door-knocking campaign, peaceful marches, a tightly controlled media message and a constant rotation of leaders to protect individuals from government smear campaigns have helped maintain momentum in Serbia.
Now, they have their own "Students Win" list of 250 candidates for Sunday's election, which includes university professors, actors, farmers and even a popular rapper.
The only poll published this month, by New Serbian Political Thought (NSPM) on October 20, showed the students' list of candidates edging ahead of Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) with 44.5% of the vote to 42.7%, although betting odds favour Vucic.
"The protests changed the society. It showed people they are not alone," said Florian Bieber, professor of Southeast European history and politics at the University of Graz.
UNKNOWNS SURROUND STUDENT MOVEMENT
The big question is how the students would govern should they win on Sunday.
Vucic is a significant international figure, managing a delicate balancing act that seeks closer ties with China, a major investor, and Russia, Serbia's traditional ally and principal supplier of natural gas, while leaving the door open to joining the European Union even with the accession process stalled.
The students' list is headed by cardiologist Ilija Srdanovic, although they have said this does not mean he would become prime minister should they win.
Some political analysts wonder how the country would fare on the international stage with an unknown at the helm, while there are scant details about how the students will set about fulfilling their pledges to fight corruption, promote transparency, create greater media freedom and enact education reform at home.
Critics also point to their silence on joining the EU and relations with the former province of Kosovo. Pro-European opponents of Vucic's government criticise them for saying that they would not introduce sanctions on Russia.
"A (student-led) government would pursue broad reforms to tackle corruption, overhaul key public institutions and companies, and dismantle patronage networks," consultancy Teneo said in an analyst note on Tuesday. "However, strong bureaucratic resistance could generate short-term institutional instability."
GROWING DISCONTENT WITH VUCIC RULE
Vucic, 56, stepped down as president in September to run again for prime minister in the snap election.
While he has overseen a period of strong economic growth and a fall in unemployment, critics blame him for democratic backsliding, the silencing of critics and the media, and hampering Serbia's EU accession by not undertaking necessary reforms. Police have beaten protesters and threatened people who voice opposition online, rights groups, activists and students told Reuters.
Simmering anger towards the government boiled over with the collapse of the station roof in Novi Sad. Vucic has sought to discredit the student movement, saying it is trying to destroy Serbia and accusing foreign agents from Croatia and Montenegro of financing it, but that has not dented their support.
Government representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Vucic and the authorities have repeatedly denied the allegations of corruption and violence and attempts to discredit the opposition. The students dismiss claims that they are being organised from abroad.
HOW A SMALL MOVEMENT GREW
The student protests were small to begin with: days after the canopy collapse, a few dozen people blocked traffic in Novi Sad and Belgrade for one minute for each person who was killed.
Less than three months later, in late January 2025, then prime minister and close Vucic ally Milos Vucevic resigned a day after tens of thousands of people blocked one of Belgrade's main junctions, joined by farmers in their tractors.
In March that year, the students led hundreds of thousands of people through Belgrade, the biggest anti-government march in a generation. By then, the movement had a symbol: a red handprint, representing the blood that the protesters say is on the government's hands.
"We felt we had importance and that we had a greater responsibility," Simic said.
University faculties across the country held plenums and working groups focused on media and social media strategies, and organising marches.
On the first anniversary of the roof collapse, the students walked from Belgrade to Novi Sad. People in small villages offered fruit. An image of a man with a traditional Serbian hat hugging a Muslim student in a headscarf flooded social media - which supporters hailed as an emblem of a young, progressive Serbia after the devastating Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Ahead of Sunday's vote, student groups have undergone training on election fraud and say teams plan to be present at polling stations.
Gavrilo Andric was a software engineer for a big company when the protests began. An amateur photographer, he watched the movement grow, eventually leaving his job to become its unofficial documenter.
"I finally realised that in our society we have a group of people who see things can be improved and want to work on it together with other people," he told Reuters.
(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Edward McAllister, Kirsten Donovan)
