Growing protests pose the most serious challenge yet to Serbia's
populist president
[September 13, 2025]
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is escalating
his crackdown on protests that have shaken his populist rule in recent
months. What began as a small, student-led campaign against corruption
has snowballed into one of the most turbulent protest waves in the
Balkan country in a quarter of a century.
Rights groups and Vucic's political opponents have warned of
increasingly brutal tactics aimed at silencing a movement that has
become the biggest challenge yet to his decade-long grip on power.
Last week, tanks rolled through the capital, Belgrade, in preparation
for a military parade on Sept. 20. If the parade becomes a flashpoint
for unrest, protesters fear the military could remain on the streets.
Vucic's nationalist background
Vucic has ruled Serbia for more than a decade, reshaping its politics
while drawing accusations of corruption and authoritarianism.
He began his political career in the 1990s as a hardline nationalist in
the Serbian Radical Party, becoming information minister under the late
Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. He was notorious for his calls to
punish independent media and his wartime rhetoric against Serbia's
neighbors which he maintains to this day.
Serbia was defeated in the wars in the Balkans, Milosevic was ousted by
a wave of protests in October 2000, and Vucic reinvented himself as a
pro-European reformer. He co-founded the Serbian Progressive Party,
which promised modernization and EU integration, but he consolidated his
power through populism, control of the media, and a tight grip on state
institutions.
How the latest unrest started
On Nov. 1, 2024, a canopy collapsed at the railway station in the
northern city of Novi Sad, killing at least 16 people. The tragedy, tied
to a Chinese-backed renovation project, sparked outrage over alleged
state-run corruption and negligence.
University students were the first to protest, blocking traffic every
Friday for 15 minutes in memory of the dead.
But the anger over corruption quickly resonated beyond campuses, drawing
crowds of ordinary citizens frustrated with rising costs of living and a
sense of impunity among ruling-party elites.
Protesters now demand accountability, transparency, and early elections.
Why the protests turned violent
At first, the demonstrations were peaceful marches and sit-ins. But
tensions rose when authorities deployed riot police, plainclothes
officers and even shady parapolice units, led by soccer hooligans loyal
to Vucic, to disperse the gatherings with batons, sticks and flares.
Protesters reported beatings, arbitrary arrests, and the use of tear
gas, stun grenades and sonic devices — tactics that rights groups have
condemned as brutal and excessive.
The harsh response from the authorities has fueled defiance. Students
have escalated their actions by blocking major intersections, occupying
university halls, and staging sit-ins outside state institutions. Each
new crackdown has drawn more people into the streets, creating a cycle
of confrontation.
And while previous waves of protests petered out over a disputed
property development, allegations of stolen elections and two mass
shootings, this time the protests have built up over time. Crucially,
they spread beyond Belgrade to dozens of cities and small towns across
the country.
Vucic's response
Vucic has repeatedly branded the student protesters as “terrorists” who
are working in conjunction with Western powers to remove him from
office, without presenting any evidence. Although he has called for a
dialogue with the students, he has refused to call early elections and
warned of an even harsher response to the protests.
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Serbian Army vehicles drive ahead of a military parade scheduled for
Sept. 20 in the Serbian capital Belgrade, Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.
(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Students flatly rejected the offer of talks before early elections. In
response to the student demands, authorities sacked more than 100
teachers, professors and deans and replaced them with Vucic's loyalists.
While some schools have reopened with new staff, others have remained
closed, especially some of the university faculties.
A strategic position between East and West
While under intense domestic pressure, Vucic continued projecting
Serbia’s foreign diplomacy as balanced, managing complex relations with
both the European Union and his authoritarian allies, most notably
Russia.
He attended a summit on Sept.1 with leaders from China, Russia, North
Korea and Iran, where he said he received their support in dealing with
the protests at home. He has also refused to join international
sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
However, he has also made no move to block Serbian exports of weapons to
Ukraine and earlier this year, he made his first-ever visit to Kyiv,
signaling a willingness to engage with Western-aligned nations.
Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, but
negotiations have made slow progress.
Europe's muted reaction
Vucic's tenure is marked by a centralization of power, suppression of
dissent, and tight control over the media, drawing scrutiny from human
rights organizations.
He has openly advocated the closure of the last remaining independent TV
outlets, N1 and Nova, or a purge of reporters and management. He has
called them liars for their coverage of the protests, although they
mainly broadcast live, with minimal intervention from editors or
commentators.
Analysts and opposition groups argue that Europe must increase the
pressure on Serbia to prevent its further democratic erosion.
EU officials have warned Vucic that progress toward EU membership
depends on meeting certain standards, including reforms in the
judiciary, media freedoms and fight against corruption.
At a time when Europe is dealing with the repercussions of Russia's war
in Ukraine, the EU has so far shown little willingness to confront Vucic
and his government.
The Serbian opposition and some EU lawmakers believe the EU's reaction
has been too timid because officials believe Vucic is the only one who
can preserve peace in a region still reeling from a series of wars in
the 1990s that left over 100,000 people dead and millions homeless.
High stakes
The anti-graft rallies have become more than just a fight against
corruption. They are now a direct challenge to Vucic’s heavy-handed
rule, with demonstrators demanding free elections, independent judiciary
and accountability for police violence.
With neither side showing signs of backing down, Serbia faces a
deepening political crisis and the risk of further unrest and even
bloodshed.
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Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed to this report.
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