About 150,000 people gathered in central Belgrade on Thursday for a massive protest led by university students. The crowd waved flags, blew whistles, and packed the streets around Slavija Square to support the Student List, an opposition movement trying to defeat the country's longtime leaders in Sunday's parliamentary election.
The student movement started nearly two years ago after a deadly disaster shocked the nation. In 2024, a renovated concrete roof collapsed at the Novi Sad railway station, killing 16 people. Many citizens blamed the tragedy on government corruption. Protests quickly grew from calls for an honest investigation into a broader demand to end more than 14 years of rule by the right-wing Serbian Progressive party (SNS).
The Student List has chosen 250 candidates for parliament, mostly selecting university professors and political outsiders who promise to fight corruption. Facing intense public pressure, veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic called an early snap election. Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics for over a decade, has rejected the students' accusations and claimed the youth movement is a foreign-funded attempt to overthrow the state.
Civil society groups have warned that the campaign has suffered from voter intimidation, but the student demonstrations have stayed peaceful. For many ordinary citizens, Sunday's vote offers a rare hope for political change as voters across the country prepare to head to the polling stations.