SERBIA: Demanding Early Parliamentary Elections & more – 6th May 2025

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 6th of May twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

After nearly five months of faculty blockades, on Monday the 5th students from the entire country demanded early parliamentary elections. They said that the current government could not find justice for the victims of the railway station tragedy, which took place on the 1st of November in the northern city of Novi Sad — the reason why students are blocking their faculties.

They added that they would assemble a students’ list that would not feature any opposition or ruling coalition members, nor the students themselves, but people they could trust and rely on to establish the rule of law. Students said that the current government is incompetent to lead the country, since its way of dealing with the current political situation was violent and oppressive, including assaults on students and journalists, public smear campaigns and targeting, and threats about university privatization and state university erasure.

They noted that government corruption is deeply rooted in the state institutions, so they cannot perform their duties independently.

Next up, on Tuesday the 29th, Marta Kos, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, visited the country to discuss Serbia’s path to the EU and the current political events in the country. During her stay, Kos met with the state officials, ruling and opposition MPs and the protesting students.

She reminded the state officials of the promises that they had made regarding Serbia’s accession into the EU, which includes the adoption and implementation of certain media and electoral laws, and a new board for the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media. Kos added that, so far, Serbia has not fulfilled any of them.

Whilst meeting with the students, Kos acknowledged that their demands for the government align closely with what the EU asks of Serbia. Students, who have been protesting since November against corruption, demand a clearer insight into the muddy waters of the railway station renovation project in Novi Sad that preceded the fatal canopy collapse incident.

Speaking of the student protests, a large one took place on Thursday the 1st of May across the country, marking the six-month anniversary of the canopy collapse tragedy alongside the International Workers’ Day. In Belgrade, students and five major trade unions, including Independence and Unity, organized a protest in front of the Government building.

The demonstration called for better protection of workers and improved strike rights. In Novi Sad, students unveiled a memorial plaque in front of the railway station where the tragedy took place with a text saying Novi Sad remembers. In the southern city of Nis, students unfurled a large flag with the number six in the city center, marking that six months have passed since the tragedy and that there has been no justice for the victims.

Since we mentioned trade unions, on Monday the 5th, the Trade Union of the Serbian Judiciary announced that judiciary workers across the country went into a one-day-long full strike, and said that there will be more in the future until their demands are met. They are demanding salary increases, better working conditions, recognition of the role of administrative and professional staff in the judiciary, as well as an end to the systematic underestimation of their work.

While on the topic of justice, there has been little to no resolution on the case of a mysterious loud noise which caused a stampede during a student protest on the 15th of March. Recall that on that day, the largest protest in Serbian history was taking place, with over 750,000 people in attendance. After the stampede, students and protest attendees accused the police of using a sound cannon in an attempt to cause panic and distress to end the protest. Belgradian students even added a demand on their list asking for an independent investigation into the sound cannon case. The government officials and the president denied the accusations.

On Tuesday the 29th, the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim measure, calling on the Serbian government to prevent the use of sound devices aimed at causing stress and fear, such as sound cannons, noting that they are illegal. However, they highlighted that the Court is still undecided on whether the Serbian authorities used the sound cannon or not.

In other news, Dijana Hrka, the mother of one of the railway station tragedy victims, left Serbia after numerous threats and pressure from the regime supporters. In a previous show, we reported that the contracting company responsible for the railway station renovation project filed a criminal complaint against Dijana’s lawyer. She said that the pressure increased with her receiving threats and violent messages from pro-government individuals.

Recall that a few months ago, Dijana received an image online of a body at an autopsy with her son’s face edited on the cadaver as a threat. She believes that she is a target of the regime backers due to her avid support for the student-led protests.

Unfortunately, the canopy collapse is not the only recent tragedy that has taken place in Serbia. Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday the 3rd in front of Belgrade's Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school to pay their respects to the victims of the school shooting, which took place two years ago. Among the attendees were members of opposition parties, university professors, as well as the protesting students, who laid wreaths, flowers, and lit candles for the victims.

Back in May of twenty twenty-three a student of the school opened fire on his classmates, killing eight students and a security guard, and injuring seven more people.

On another note, a new report by the Balkan Insight Research Network, or BIRN, published on Tuesday the 29th highlighted an increase in mass and targeted surveillance by the governments in Balkan countries. They said that the victims of surveillance are usually activists and journalists, whom the government targets to suppress critical voices. BIRN added that the Serbian government has engaged in deploying facial recognition without legal safeguards, apart from other instances of unlawful surveillance such as spyware softwares. They underlined that the government never responded to the calls for accountability from the affected parties.

In more reports, on Friday the 2nd the international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders published a Press Freedom Report for this year, ranking 177 countries by their media freedom, with Norway in the first position and Syria on the last.

Compared to twenty twenty-four, Serbia went up by two places, striking the 96th position on the list, despite the political unrest and journalism targeting in the country, as well as the systematic erasure of independent TV channels and the promotion of pro-government ones. Reporters Without Borders noted that while Serbia has high-quality journalism, it has seen a great increase in fake news and propaganda.

When it comes to tourism, the State statistical office reported that the country has seen a drop in foreign visitors of around seven percent year-on-year. They noted that around 270,000 people visited Serbia in March, which is a decrease of more than ten percent compared to February. Most of the tourists came from China, followed by Russia, Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Economists and political analysts believe that such a drop in tourists is tied to the current political situation in the country and the constant protests.

Closing with some cultural news, Belgrade will host the Belgrade Photo Month from Wednesday the 7th for a month straight. The event will feature exhibitions, film screenings, and meetings about contemporary photography, among others. The main show will be the presentation of Kourtney Roy’s project titled I drink - New Orleans, which is a photo album composed of streets, bars, and hidden corners of New Orleans. Roy is also the face of this year’s Belgrade Photo Month.

For more information, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!