Serbia: more mass protests against Vučić
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Serbian capital Belgrade again on Saturday to protest Aleksandar Vučić's government and demand early parliamentary elections. Violent clashes between police and demonstrators ensued. The protests have gone on for eight months and were triggered by the tragedy at the railway station in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024 in which 16 people died.
A common goal
Pešćanik sees the fact that there were also nationalist voices among those making the protest speeches as positive:
“Has the student movement moved to the right because these two or three speakers were invited? ... Or does it simply show how people who live together in a tower block should coexist? The main thing is that the people living there don't play their music too loud, no matter what that music may be, and that the house rules which all residents have agreed to are observed. ... The current situation is either-or. Them or us. But perhaps it can only be solved by an all-together. A them and us. We don't get to choose our family, our neighbours, our fellow citizens. But we do choose who conducts the affairs of state in our name. The first thing we should do is choose who should not run it.”
Let the people decide
Politiken says it's high time for elections:
“This is a battle between liberal democrats and an illiberal Vučić regime whose political orientation is closer to the enfant terrible of the EU, Hungary, than to the fundamental values that the EU stands for. Aleksandar Vučić has also refused to take part in the sanctions against Russia over its war of aggression against Ukraine. So the showdown in Serbia should be of great interest to all of us in the rest of the EU. A Serbia that is committed to liberal democracy would strengthen the bloc. One that continues to follow Vučić's line would weaken it to the point where EU membership would be out of the question. What do the Serbs want? Let them vote on it.”
The EU needs to act
The Frankfurter Rundschau calls on Europe to take a clearer stance against Vučić:
“Suspending visa-free travel to the Schengen Area would affect the wrong people and be a fatal step. But whether it's the long overdue expulsion of the Russophile ruling party SNS from the Christian Democratic EPP, the suspension of the already deadlocked accession negotiations, or the freezing of approved pre-accession funds, the EU partners have enough possibilities to distance themselves from the Belgrade gravediggers of democracy, and now they must act. Europe can no longer afford to be a bystander in Serbia.”
What kind of country do the demonstrators want?
Violence is once again prevailing, Jutarnji list laments:
“It would have been surprising if the protest against the omnipotence of Aleksandar Vučić and the oligarchy had ended in anything other than clashes between demonstrators and the police. Vučić was proven right in his prediction that that the protests would only lead to violence. This gave the forces of law and order advance justification for repressing those pushing for a change of government. Once again, violence rather than the speeches made during the protests took centre stage. ... These have been going on for eight months without anyone knowing what kind of Serbia the critics of Vučić who call for his resignation actually want.”
This won't end well
In contrast to previous protests this one was extremely nationalistic in its rhetoric, Večernji list notes:
“The speeches held by the students during the demonstration on Vidovdan [a Serbian national holiday] had a distinctly nationalist flavour. ... Nationalism has often been Serbia's undoing. ... But no one is bothered by this, because a new formation against the 'ruler' with [former PM Vojislav] Koštunica leading a new generation will hardly bring any improvement. Vučić can be overthrown, Slobodan Milošević was overthrown. Then we saw and are still seeing what followed. And Vučić himself is plunging the country into even deeper suffering by defying reality.”