The students won. The President of Serbia announces: The elections will be held ahead of schedule

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Sunday that he would meet the demands of protesting students and parliamentary elections would be held ahead of schedule, Beta news agency reported. The vote is scheduled to take place in 2027.

“I reach out to those who think differently,” Vucic said. He added that he was glad that Saturday's commemoration of the anniversary of the accident at the Novi Sad railway station took place “in a calm and dignified manner.”

Vucic, who has so far rejected calls for early elections, added that a specific decision on their organization will be made by “appropriate institutions.”

Calling early parliamentary elections is one of the demands of the participants of anti-government protests that have been organized in Serbia for a year. The demonstrations are a response to the construction disaster in Novi Sad, where on November 1, 2024, part of the roof of the railway station collapsed. 16 people died as a result of the accident. Protesters accuse the authorities of negligence and corruption, which they believe led to the tragedy.

On Saturday, on the first anniversary of this event, all-day mourning ceremonies were held in Novi Sad. Thousands of people from all over Serbia came to the city, some of them – mainly students and pupils – on foot. There was national mourning in Serbia that day.

The day before the anniversary, Vucic apologized to “students, protesters and others” for some of his statements and called for dialogue. Over the past year, Serbian authorities, including the president, have repeatedly accused students – the organizers of most of the protests – of “terrorism” and organizing a “color revolution” in the country, allegedly financed from abroad.

On Sunday, Vucic said his apology was not well received because “youth in revolutionary exhilaration first acts and thinks later.” He assured that the apology was sincere and resulted from the desire to improve the atmosphere in the country.

Earlier on Sunday, the mother of one of the victims of the accident in Novi Sad started a hunger strike near the parliament, demanding, among other things, early elections. During the day, a group of people wanting to express their support for her and government supporters gathered near her tent, separated by a police cordon.

In the evening, pyrotechnic materials flew from the tent camp of the authorities' supporters towards the second group. Additional riot police units were dispatched to the site to separate the two groups, local media reported.

The station in Novi Sad was opened after extensive renovation just a few months before part of its roof collapsed. No one has been found guilty of this accident yet.

Students, who have been organizing protests since December 2024, initially demanded the publication of documentation regarding the reconstruction of the station, the prosecution of those responsible for beating demonstrators, the suspension of proceedings against people arrested for participating in the protests, and a 20% increase in the spending on higher education. When these demands were not met, in May they put forward a demand to announce early elections that would alleviate the social crisis in the country.

Jakub Bawołek (PAP)

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