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Major anti-corruption protests in Serbia add to pressure on President Vučić (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 day ago by AccountMaker@slrpnk.net to c/europe@feddit.org
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Serbia’s powerful populist leader Aleksandar Vučić was facing his biggest challenge yet as student-led demonstrations intensified at the weekend in what was being called the Balkan country’s greatest ever protest movement.

Three months to the day after a concrete canopy collapsed at the entrance of Novi Sad’s railway station, tens of thousands of protesters converged on the northern city, blockading its three bridges in commemoration of the 15 people killed in the accident. The tragedy has been blamed squarely on government ineptitude and graft.

“What we are seeing are the greatest street protests in the history of Serbia,” said Dejan Bagarić, a master’s student speaking from the city. “There’s never been anything like it, people are really animated because everybody has had enough of corruption and this government is very corrupt.”

...

By last week the anti-government rallies had spread to more than 100 provincial towns and villages nationwide.

...

On Friday, as hundreds of students reached Novi Sad on foot after a two-day, 80km trek from Belgrade, Vučić, addressing the protests, told the nation: “Our country is under attack, from abroad and from inside,” echoing earlier claims that the protesters were working for unspecified foreign powers to oust the government.

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[–] fluxx1@lemm.ee 9 points 1 day ago

I'd just like to add that the students/people have no official support from ANY EU, USA or Russian officials and, unlike with Milošević, are fighting this fight alone. It is going to be very hard to win. Opposing parties have been weakened and slandered throughout the years, so fair elections are currently not possible. Almost all media is still controlled by the regime, so chances of any alternatives arising are small. But there's no stopping now. I hope there won't be any (further) casualties, but some sort of physical confrontation is not going to be a huge surprise. So far, the students have resisted any violence and any provocation of it. Wish us luck.