Serbia’s prime minister resigns as anti-corruption protests grow

Serbia’s populist prime minister, Milos Vucevic, has said he is stepping down following weeks of massive anti-corruption protests over the deadly collapse of a concrete canopy at a railway station last November.

The collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad, which killed 15 people, has become a flashpoint reflecting wider discontent with the increasingly autocratic rule of Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic.

He has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms in Serbia despite formally seeking European Union membership for the troubled Balkan nation.

Mr Vucevic told a news conference on Tuesday that his resignation is aimed at lowering tensions in Serbia.

“It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,” he said.

Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric is also stepping down, Mr Vucevic said.

Mr Vucevic’s resignation is likely to lead to an early parliamentary election.

The resignation must be confirmed by Serbia’s parliament, which has 30 days to choose a new government or call a snap election.

Opposition parties have said they will insist on a transitional government that would create conditions for a free and fair election. Mr Vucic’s populists have faced accusations of irregularities during past elections.

Mr Vucevic became prime minister in April 2024, after the Serbian Progressive Party won most votes in an election marred by tensions.

“They (ruling party) have been in a freefall since the Novi Sad tragedy,” journalist Slobodan Georgiev said on N1 television, adding that President Vucic is seeking a “buffer” with the prime minister’s resignation.

In the past Mr Vucic managed to cushion the impact of anti-government street protests, but the current student movement has garnered widespread support from all walks of life, including actors, farmers, lawyers and judges.

On Monday, tens of thousands of people joined striking university students in a 24-hour blockade of a key traffic intersection in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

The students have been protesting for weeks, demanding accountability for the canopy collapse that critics have blamed on rampant government corruption.

In another attempt to defuse tensions, on Monday evening Mr Vucic, Mr Vucevic and Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic urged dialogue with the students, who have garnered widespread support from all walks of life in Serbia with their call for justice and accountability.

Mr Vucevic said the immediate cause for his resignation was an attack on a female student in Novi Sad early on Tuesday by assailants allegedly from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

He said that “whenever it seems there is hope to return to social dialogue, to talk … it’s like an invisible hand creates a new incident and tensions mount again”.

Serbia’s prosecutors have filed charges against 13 people over the Novi Sad incident, including a government minister and several state officials. But former construction minister Goran Vesic has been released from detention, fuelling doubts over the investigation’s independence.

The main railway station in Novi Sad has been renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure deal with Chinese state companies.

Several incidents have marred the street demonstrations in the past few weeks, including drivers ramming into the crowds on two occasions, when two young women were injured.

Students and others have been holding daily 15-minute traffic blockades throughout Serbia at 11.52am, the time at which the concrete canopy crashed down on November 1.

The blockades honour the 15 victims, who included two children.