Since November 1 last year, Serbia has been fundamentally transformed as citizens, led by students, came together to demand accountability for the Novi Sad tragedy. The government responded by calling protesters terrorists aiming to “ruin Serbia” and by slandering them as foreign-funded agents.
The student-led movement initially declared that its goal was “systemic change” in Serbia, rejecting collaboration with existing parliamentary parties. They called on citizens to organize locally, promoting grassroots neighborhood councils that have since blossomed across the country. In May 2025, students added a new demand: emergency parliamentary elections. Since then, they have been assembling a “Student List” of candidates they would nominate and support, though the list has not yet been published.
Yet, after countless protests and significant achievements, the student movement has seemingly gone silent since announcing its demand for elections. In the meantime, a repressive campaign to intimidate students has emerged: police occupied the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad for days, while thugs (and police) were hosted at the State University in Novi Pazar. Many blockades of higher education and cultural institutions were violently broken up, and educational workers have been dismissed from their posts.
As the anniversary and new academic year approach, all eyes are on the students. November 1 could mark a new beginning for the movement — a surge of energy.
Freshmen are arriving at faculties, many of whom participated in protests and blockades in high school. Starting next semester, politically literate and organizationally experienced young people will enter the faculties, aware that the struggle is far from over and that demands for accountability and justice have yet to be met.
The revival of cross-country student-led marches
For November 1, students from Belgrade and the central Serbian town of Čačak will march on foot to Novi Sad, as they did last winter. According to unofficial reports, over 4,000 students will depart from Belgrade, with others joining along the way from the cities they pass through. Students from Užice, Kraljevo, Gornji Milanovac, Šabac, Bogatić, Kosjerić, Valjevo, Koceljeva, Ruma, and Sremska Mitrovica will join the Čačak contingent.
Over the past year, students across Serbia have walked, biked, and relayed their way to several cities, including Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Niš, Novi Pazar, and Belgrade. In every march, they were welcomed “like liberators” in small villages, with locals preparing food and even hosting students in their homes.
As the country prepares for what will likely be one of the largest gatherings in recent months, many recall the March 15 protest, attended by several hundred thousand people. That largest recent protest also saw accusations that the government used a sonic weapon in response to this show of solidarity and determination.
A.M.
