Students in Serbia have announced a full blockade of Belgrade and other major cities today, Friday, calling on the public to join them in protest against what they describe as “police violence and arrests.”
The planned blockade was triggered by a series of police crackdowns in recent days, including the violent dispersal of student-led roadblocks and an attempted forced entry into the Faculty of Law on Wednesday night, during which 79 people were arrested.
For the past five days, students and citizens have been blocking roads across major Serbian cities, demanding snap parliamentary elections.
The nationalist president Aleksandar Vučić, currently in his second term, is not up for re-election until 2027 — the year when parliamentary elections are also scheduled.
Students and opposition groups accuse Vučić of fostering ties with organized crime, suppressing political dissent, and undermining media freedom. The president has denied all allegations.
Mass protests involving students, opposition parties, teachers, workers, and farmers began last December, after the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station roof on November 1, which killed 16 people. Demonstrators have linked the disaster to government corruption.
Reacting to the blockade announcement, Vučić released a video on Instagram late Thursday night, declaring that the state “cannot allow illegal actions.”
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