On 3 April, 80 students from various Serbian universities embarked on a trip to the seat of the European parliament in Strasbourg, France. They were trying to raise awareness about the situation back home. Yet they only arrived there two weeks later because they performed the entire journey on bicycles.
Now 21 students are running to Brussels, Belgium. On 12 May they will be meeting with politicians at the headquarters of the European Union to discuss what is going on in Serbia. As with the bicycle trip to Strasbourg, with each border crossed and new city entered the students are greeted by waves of supporters—both locals and those who were forced to emigrate from Serbia for a better life.
Yet this has seemingly eluded global media attention. To the world, they are invisible.
The UK reaching hotter temperatures than Ibiza naturally overshadows small groups of students cycling 1,300 kilometers, or running nearly 2,000 kilometres. For context, this is the equivalent of traversing from the northern tip of Scotland to the southern coast of England twice (or walking 3,800,000 steps). Serbia is, after all, a country with a historically bad reputation. Once a part of Yugoslavia, it is now applying for membership to the European Union. But it faces two major obstacles: corruption within the country, and its strong ties with Russia.
However, a new generation of students are trying to rip up this reputation, and change the fate of their country; they are already staging the biggest student-led movement in Europe since those in France in 1968. As history has shown, more often than not it is youth that strives for change because they have the idealism required to do so. These students have been keeping universities shut in protest for months on end. Secondary schools are following suit to show support, leaving in their wake a group of youngsters sacrificing their future for the destiny of the country as a whole. They are putting their education and thus upcoming careers at stake—all so that a better country can be made.
How did they happen?
This series of protests began following 1 November 2024, when the concrete canopy of a railway station in Novi Sad collapsed. It left two critically injured and fifteen dead. Among those killed were children aged 6, 10, 16 and 17. In March 2025, the death toll rose to 16.
The train station, originally built in 1964, saw repair works from September 2021 until summer 2024. This was part of a large-scale reconstruction project with the economic backing of China. It planned to build a new railway line between the capital Belgrade and the Hungarian border. After preliminary investigations, it is clear that the rebuilding project was extremely hazardous. For in the gaps of the awning, particles of glass and aluminium were fitted and covered with a marble facade. The question then emerges: with such poor quality of materials and construction, where did the 65 million euros invested go?
The government has been unwilling to show any documents to prove how funds were allocated. Thus the incident sparked a wave of student protests through Serbia’s biggest cities, with students demanding the resignations of those culpable.
Students began by halting traffic daily and blocking universities for months. This has been possible with widespread support from the public: supporters have brought home cooked meals to university sit-ins; taxi drivers have offered free rides to students; and lawyers embarked on a one-month strike. The waves have grown larger, and what started as a student protest has enveloped society as a whole. Various groups have voiced their support, including Serbia’s biker community which blocked Novi Sad on their motorcycles. Local farmers also drove in on their tractors. Even army veterans marched in crimson berets to pay their respects to the victims.
Mass demonstrations have amassed more than 100,000 people in the capital alone. Additionally, a general strike in January 2025 left the country at a standstill. The protests eventually led to the resignation of Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević. Yet his abdication is largely insignificant, as the real power lies with President Aleksandar Vučić.
In February 2025, students began marching from the capital to rural areas to raise awareness and support. When they marched 100 kilometers to Novi Sad and staged a triumphant street festival, chants could be heard of an old slogan dating back a quarter of a century: “Gotov je!” Meaning ‘he’s finished’, the mantra of the 2000 revolt that brought down Serbia’s post-communist dictator Slobodan Milošević. Only 25 years later, the country seems to be in a similar situation to where it was. Whether Serbia can become a true democracy is questionable, especially given recent events; Milošević’s democratic successor, Zoran Đindić, was shot through the heart by a sniper after only two years in office.
In April, a blockade of the country’s national media station RTS (Radio-Television of Serbia) lasted two weeks. RTS is the largest media station in Serbia, but instead of being independent they are government-controlled. Through their blockade, students demanded that the members of REM (the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media) be replaced with new, independent staff unaffiliated with the government. The blockade spanned Easter celebrations, where abiding to Orthodox Christian tradition students dyed eggs on Good Friday and sent out an invitation for all to join them, exclaiming, “Colourful eggs, not colourful lies.” The protestors achieved their goal, as the former members of REM were dismissed and new members will be voted for. However, it remains to be seen whether the government will just place their own corrupt personnel yet again.
Amidst this beautiful congregation of students and citizens in protest, there also exists a series of violent attacks on the protestors: there have been attempts to run students over with cars; thugs connected to the governing Progressive Party have attacked students with fists and baseball bats; there were also rumours of a sound cannon being used during a large demonstration; and recently a young female protestor was severely injured and hospitalised after a police officer hit her with a metal shield.
Why are the protests in Serbia important?
While from the UK this little area in the Balkans might seem insignificant, the power of what the students are achieving must be envied and lauded. These students have come together in an incredible network that spans the entire country. Moreover, they face their situation with dark humour and sarcasm typical of witty, intelligent youth. For example, they staged a blockade in front of the corrupt Informer tabloid news station. Employees claimed that they had nothing to eat because the blockades prevented them from leaving. In response, the students wittily decided to cook a traditional Serbian goulash in front of the news station. The dish was chosen specifically because it requires a little bit of extra time to be properly stewed. Subsequently they invited the tabloid to have a meal together. The invitation, however, was rejected.
Similarly when the President was to hold “the largest gathering in history”, he soon cancelled it with various excuses, but the university Faculty of Organizational Sciences responded that they knew this gathering would not take place ages before it was ever cancelled because of the alignment of the stars. They wrote humorously, translated from Serbian: “The Institution really believes in astrology, and his astrologer told him that on 29 March retrograde Mercury moves from Aries to Pisces (or something along those lines) and there is also a solar eclipse, which means that this is the moment when the ruler’s power is at its weakest. That is why we should not be surprised by their uninformed decision. It looks like the gathering is completely rescheduled, and will take place following the retrograde of Mercury. We wish we were joking.”
What the stars have aligned for is this particular generation of students in Serbia coming together—a group now nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. They very firmly state that they are not affiliated to any political parties and are merely seeking justice. With firm backing from 80% of Serbia’s citizens, they are demanding accountability for a single tragedy; more than that, they are challenging the system—one where corruption is the rule and accountability is the exception.
What remains to be seen is whether the protests will symbolise merely an episode of discontent in history or whether they will pave the way for social reform. Regardless, what is certain is that this generation of students has awakened a spirit of unity and resilience. They have proved that the fight for justice is both a duty and a necessity.
What should be praised above all is their relentless spirit. As the cyclists said at every checkpoint they reached: none of us are tired, we do not know what tiredness is.
Đindić famously said that there are weeds in every country, but only in Serbia do they get cultivated. The students, now the gardeners of society, have dotted patches of flowers around these weeds. Only time will tell whether Serbia will sprout into full, visible bloom.