MOBILISATIONS IN SERBIA: A RESILIENCE THAT PAYS OFF?
November 2025
Editos/Points of view
FONDEMOS’ VIEW
A year ago in Serbia, on November 1, 2024, the canopy of a renovated train station in Novid Sad collapsed and killed sixteen people.
For many, it wasn’t an accident but proof of a state undermined by opaque markets and networks of interests.
The investigation led to indictments, but people in the streets demanded more than heads to roll: the full publication of contracts, audits, and decision chains so that public safety could regain its credibility.
Since then, on the first of every month, silent crowds have gathered for vigils, carrying portraits, lighting candles, and holding the nonviolent line. Students have become the backbone of this resilience, joined by lawyers and construction professionals.
Over the course of a year, their forms of action have evolved without losing their essence: disciplined marches, memorials, time-limited blockades, and meticulous documentation of the facts. Their demands have broadened: independent justice, free media, transparency in public procurement and anti-corruption measures, and stronger parliamentary oversight. The first sign of the street’s weight came when Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned at the end of January 2025.
The European Union indeed condemned the violence and reiterated the importance of the rule of law. To truly have an impact, it must translate these positions into concrete conditions tied to the accession process: independent monitoring of procedures and a clear timeline. As long as these benchmarks are not explicit, the pressure can be easily circumvented.
The suspicion of foreign interference cast by the government serves as a convenient smokescreen in a region marked by several “color revolutions.” But what unfolded in Novi Sad was neither an imported script nor an EU-Russia showdown. Collective mourning has turned into a civic demand, rooted in faces, documents made accessible , and traceable judicial actions.
The word that echoes through the marches, “No one is tired!”, speaks of an energy that growing repression has not worn down.
A year after the tragedy, the monthly commemoration continues. It is a reminder that well-organized peaceful movements, often inspired by neighboring experiences, can stand up to authoritarian regimes, and that transparency is not just a demand, but a method. Now, protesters are calling for early elections with credible guarantees; if the government agrees this test of truth, Serbia will be able to measure whether the memory of the victims has truly shifted the boundaries of the possible.
