An estimated 150,000 supporters of the opposition student movement rallied in central Belgrade on Thursday, marking a significant push to oust the party of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic in crunch parliamentary elections scheduled for this weekend.
The Student List, a leaderless movement comprised of student-backed candidates, is seeking to end more than 14 years of rule by Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive party (SNS).
The current political climate follows nearly two years of student-led protests, which were originally sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at the newly renovated Novi Sad railway station.
That tragedy, which killed 16 people and was widely blamed on corruption, triggered some of Serbia’s largest protests since the fall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000.
The anti-corruption movement, led by university students, eventually snowballed from demands for a transparent investigation into the tragedy into broader calls for an early election.
Waving “Students are winning” flags, chanting, and blowing whistles, demonstrators marched through Belgrade before converging on Slavija Square, a site associated with their largest protests. The Archive of Public Gatherings, an independent crowd-size monitoring group, estimated that about 150,000 people attended the rally.
University professor Jugoslav Gasic, one of 250 candidates on the Student List, addressed the crowd, stating, “We are putting an end to 14 years of humiliation, chaos and betrayal, and to decades of putting personal and party interests above yours. You deserve better, and we know how to deliver it. Students are winning!”
Many of the 250 candidates running for the 250-seat parliament are drawn from academia or are deliberate political outsiders. While the movement has a broad platform, its core pledge is to fight corruption.
Attendees like 47-year-old Marija Nedeljkovic Radic expressed hope, noting, “I came to support the Student List because young people finally gave me hope that it is possible to live in a normal country.
Really, for the first time in my life, I believe that it is possible.”
Aleksandar Vucic, who has dominated Serbian politics for over a decade as either prime minister or president, announced the snap vote last month amid mounting pressure, setting up his biggest electoral challenge since his party took power in 2012.
Addressing supporters at a sports hall in the capital on Thursday, the 56-year-old—who resigned to run for prime minister—accused the student movement of being a foreign-funded coup attempt.
“Let us never forget how they tried to bring down our state. Let us always protect and defend it,” he said. “Let us go out and defeat them! Defeat them decisively!”
The campaign period has been marked by tension. Civil society groups have warned that conditions for free and fair elections are lacking, citing intimidation, arrests, and the misuse of public resources. On Wednesday, Belgrade prosecutors questioned six people arrested on suspicion of plotting “violence, riots and attacks” on election day.
Despite these reports, the student rallies have remained largely peaceful. As the election approaches, 35-year-old attendee Igor said, “Today is the last rally, and it’s important that we all come here to send a message of love and peace and that we see each other on the 25th at the polling stations.”
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