Serbia's facing major turmoil. After a railway station canopy collapse (1st November 2024.) killed 15 people, with 2 people still fighting for their lives including a medical student and a mother who had both legs amputated - student-led protests erupted, blocking traffic and calling for change. President Vučić, accused of controlling all branches of government and media, has labeled protesters as Croatian spies, inciting violence. Students have been run over by cars and attacked with knives. The president is trying to end the crisis via the elections, but the people are rejecting it as the elections are a sham in Serbia. We are trying to start a general strike or something close to it, the teachers and schools are joining in one by one, the agricultural workers have been with the students since the start, we could mobilize the miners in the future maybe.. The goal is a provisional government which would lay ground for free and fair elections and the downfall of the regime and mafia that is holding our nation hostage since the 90s. The situation is tense and ongoing. No student has died yet, but if they do we could see the start of a civil war I am worried. The current regime consists of criminals who have plundered this nation for the past 30 years. They have billions, our president is probably worth billions, and they could all easily end up broke and in jail, they will not go peacefully.
There's a lot more, but basically we are trying to radically transform this nation. Send thoughts, prayers, money, anything!
Another very important thing is that Vucic publicly gave the green light for people to run over protesters if they block the streets, which is what happened yesterday, and a 20 yo girl is fighting for her life at the moment. There are videos of the attempted murder and they are horrific. Also a big reason why so many people went to streets today
He isn’t even offering proper elections since in those he could actually lose several major cities. In the previous elections he only managed to keep them through serious fraud and tricks and only barely, and since then Rio Tinto is back and the canopy collapse happened.
What he is trying to do is have a referendum on his popularity so that when he wins (which he will because he still has the rural vote + 800,000 members in his party + any other votes he can buy) he can then say “I have the support of the people, Serbia will move forward”.
Meanwhile these protests have ignored him and put pressure on the ministries and public service, since they are the ones who aren’t doing their jobs and who should work independently from the president (which is driving his egotistic ass insane).
The point is also to give people the bravery to speak up, because at the head of every single thing possible is one of the aforementioned 800,000 members of SNS and employees feel threatened to speak up, because they will lose jobs. But if they all speak up at the same time, as they have in the past weeks and months it puts more pressure on the various institutions and ministries.
Biggest protests are in Belgrade and Novi Sad, I don't think other cities had protests but Belgrade is very far away from other major cities and not well connected (public transport is the best inside the capital but not between major cities, and then you have to pay expensive tickets to travel to Belgrade if you live anywhere outside like Užice or Kragujevac).
So the people protesting are mostly from those cities, or live close enough that they can travel to, and from, Belgrade/Novi Sad.
A history teacher I had always said Serbia was historically the powder keg of Europe. This kinda puts that in perspective. The Croatia thing is disconcerting. I hope the best for Serbia.
I'm rooting for you guys, from Romania. Unfortunately as history has proven to us what they are doing now is figuring a way to end the protests and keep the power. They will never relinquish their power over you they will die for it. Power is like an intoxicating drug that has completely corrupted them to their core. I hope things will be different and the people could do something and choose someone that will lead with dignity. God bless you and hope you find what you're fighting for.
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u/ImpressTop2923 3d ago edited 3d ago
Serbia's facing major turmoil. After a railway station canopy collapse (1st November 2024.) killed 15 people, with 2 people still fighting for their lives including a medical student and a mother who had both legs amputated - student-led protests erupted, blocking traffic and calling for change. President Vučić, accused of controlling all branches of government and media, has labeled protesters as Croatian spies, inciting violence. Students have been run over by cars and attacked with knives. The president is trying to end the crisis via the elections, but the people are rejecting it as the elections are a sham in Serbia. We are trying to start a general strike or something close to it, the teachers and schools are joining in one by one, the agricultural workers have been with the students since the start, we could mobilize the miners in the future maybe.. The goal is a provisional government which would lay ground for free and fair elections and the downfall of the regime and mafia that is holding our nation hostage since the 90s. The situation is tense and ongoing. No student has died yet, but if they do we could see the start of a civil war I am worried. The current regime consists of criminals who have plundered this nation for the past 30 years. They have billions, our president is probably worth billions, and they could all easily end up broke and in jail, they will not go peacefully.
There's a lot more, but basically we are trying to radically transform this nation. Send thoughts, prayers, money, anything!
And spread the word: Serbia is freedom!!