The protests began last November after a railway station awning collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, including two young children, and leaving several others gravely injured.
What started in the form of brief vigils has since swelled into the largest protest movement in modern Serbian history, fueled by government denials that it was in any way to blame, despite accusations linking the tragedy to a state-run renovation project plagued by shoddy construction and oversight failures.
“In all these months of protest, the prosecution only recently arrested a minister and another one claims to be on sick leave and can’t be arrested. The lack of accountability has pushed people over the edge and the government is to blame,” Mitrović added.
For their part, the government said that the past few days marked the biggest uptick in violence against police, with 121 officers injured and 114 people arrested.
“Without any reason, police were massively and brutally attacked, and there were violent attempts to break through the cordons set up,” Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said at a press conference.
Warnings are growing from independent domestic analysts that Serbia may be heading toward deeper instability unless the government takes the protesters’ demands seriously.
An informal network of academics — including teachers, researchers and university faculty from Vojvodina, the region where protests first erupted — condemned the ruling party’s refusal to call elections, a key ask driving the movement.
They say Vučić “is prepared to provoke a civil war just to avoid calling for elections.”