AFP, BELGRADE
Students in Serbia vowed to continue protesting even after the country’s prime minister, Milos Vucevic, announced his resignation on Tuesday, following weeks of mass demonstrations over the fatal collapse of a train station roof in November last year.
The Balkan country has been rocked by regular protests in the wake of the deadly disaster at the train station in the northern city of Novi Sad that killed 15 people.
The collapse, which followed extensive renovation work at the station, has ignited long-standing anger across Serbia over corruption and the alleged lack of oversight on construction projects.
Students in Novi Sad, Serbia, on Tuesday hold their student booklets during a demonstration to pressure the government over a fatal collapse of the city’s train station roof in November last year.
Photo: AFP
“My irrevocable decision is to resign from the position of prime minister,” Vucevic told a news conference in Belgrade, following a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “In order to avoid further complicating things, so we do not further raise tensions in society, I made this decision.”
Before taking up an earlier government post in Belgrade, Vucevic had served as mayor of Novi Sad from 2012 to 2022, during which time renovations began at the train station. The prime minister has been in office for less than a year.
More than a dozen people have been charged in connection with the Novi Sad accident, including former transportation minister Goran Vesic, who resigned in the days after.
Tensions have simmered in Serbia in the past few weeks with violence breaking out at some protests, with students accusing pro-government hooligans of targeting demonstrations.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs said it had arrested four people accused of assaulting a female student overnight at a rally in Novi Sad.
The prime minister’s announcement came as thousands of protesters ended a 24-hour blockade at a major traffic intersection in Belgrade — the latest in a series of massive rallies held across the country. Hours later, protesters continued to march at scattered demonstrations in Belgrade, Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis.
Student organizers continue to demand more action, including greater transparency into the investigation and the release of all documents linked to the renovation of the station.
For months, Vucic and other government officials have oscillated between issuing calls for talks and firing off allegations that the demonstrators were being backed by foreign powers.
The government has released a raft of documents linked to the station’s renovations, but experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Belgrade said they are incomplete.
Other key demands include dropping charges against protesters arrested at rallies, an end to attacks on demonstrators and increased government spending on education.
Following premier Vucevic’s announcement, students insisted that their demands had still not been met.
“The prime minister’s resignation means nothing to the students. Our demands are clear and we will continue protesting no matter who resigns,” said Maksim Jankovic, a 19-year-old biology student at the University of Belgrade.
Shortly after Vucevic resigned, Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric said he also would be stepping down.
Dragan Popovic, a Belgrade-based analyst with the Centre for Practical Politics, said the resignations were unlikely to quell the protests.
“I believe this is clearly a desperate move. They had to do something, to try some desperate measures to divert attention primarily from the students’ demands,” Popovic said.
