In an unprecedented move, schools across Serbia will be closing their doors and starting winter break a full week ahead of schedule. The decision, announced by Education Minister Slavica Đukić Dejanović on Friday, comes as anti-corruption protests that have gripped the nation’s universities show signs of spreading to primary and secondary schools.
Protests Erupt After Deadly Canopy Collapse
The catalyst for the unrest was a tragic accident on November 1st in the northern city of Novi Sad. A concrete canopy at the main railway station, which was undergoing renovations, suddenly collapsed onto a busy sidewalk. Fifteen people lost their lives, ranging in age from just 6 years old to 74. The youngest victim succumbed to their injuries in hospital after the incident.
While the government quickly asserted that the canopy was not part of the ongoing renovation work, evidence soon emerged calling this claim into question. Photos circulating online appeared to show that significant amounts of glass and iron had been added to the structure as part of the project, overseen by Infrastructure Railways of Serbia and the Chinese consortium CRIC-CCCC. Observers also noted a concerning lack of structural engineers involved in the renovation.
Students Demand Accountability
University students in Novi Sad and the capital Belgrade rapidly mobilized demonstrations demanding the government take responsibility for the accident. Protesters allege it was the direct result of a system that values loyalty to President Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party over competence and safety.
“If you do something wrong, you should be punished for it. Yet no one has been properly held accountable. We want the blockades to continue until justice has been served.”
– Vanja Šević, 22, student at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade
Each Friday since the incident, students have staged 15-minute blockades of university faculties at 11:52am, pointedly chosen to represent the timing of the canopy collapse and number of lives lost. A red handprint, painted on banners and the Varadin Bridge in Novi Sad, has become the movement’s grim emblem, alluding to blood on the hands of those responsible.
Violence Against Protesters Intensifies Anger
Fueling the outrage has been heavy-handed policing of the demonstrations. At a November 22nd blockade outside Belgrade’s Faculty of Dramatic Arts, students and faculty reported being verbally and physically assaulted by individuals claiming to be angry drivers. Some of the alleged attackers have since been identified as holding official positions with municipal authorities.
In a particularly disturbing incident, 74-year-old Ilija Kostić required emergency surgery and the amputation of a testicle after allegedly being beaten at a police station following his participation in a courthouse blockade in Novi Sad. Demands for a full investigation and accountability for police violence have now been incorporated into the protesters’ agenda.
Protests Threaten to Spread as Government Scrambles to Respond
Attempts by Vučić’s administration to characterize the protests as foreign-funded have done little to quell the unrest, even as the government makes conciliatory gestures like releasing documents related to the renovation and offering affordable housing loans to youth.
In a sign of the movement’s breadth, even the Orthodox Theology Faculty of the University of Belgrade briefly joined the blockades. As high school students in multiple cities took up the baton, some with active encouragement from teachers, to call for Minister Dejanović’s ouster, the government moved to close schools early before the protests could gain a foothold in the secondary education system.
Critics have questioned the wisdom of the government’s strategy. Valentina Ilić, President of the Education Union of Serbia, suggested to broadcaster N1 that rather than containing the protests, “maybe they will be removed from the schools, but they have created an even bigger problem, because the children will remain on the streets.”
An unlikely alliance of agricultural workers and actors is expected to join the students’ cause at a major rally planned for Sunday afternoon in Belgrade’s bustling Slavija Square. As the anti-corruption movement shows no signs of abating, all eyes are on Serbia to see whether the early school closures mark a turning point or a mere postponement of the government’s reckoning with its disaffected youth.
