A student-led protest filled Belgrade’s Slavija Square on December 22, 2024, as public anger continued over the collapse of a concrete canopy at Novi Sad railway station. Serbia’s Interior Ministry estimated that about 29,000 people attended, while the independent Public Assembly Archive put the crowd at roughly 100,000. Either figure made the gathering one of the largest challenges to President Aleksandar Vučić’s government in recent years.
Students organised the rally with support from farmers’ unions, educators, actors and other citizens. Participants observed 15 minutes of silence for the 15 people who died after the recently renovated station canopy collapsed on November 1. Fourteen victims, ranging in age from six to 74, died that day; another later died in hospital. The quiet tribute was followed by a sustained burst of whistles and other noise across the square.
Demonstrators demanded accountability for the disaster and a credible investigation. Many linked the collapse to alleged corruption, nepotism and poor construction standards in public projects. Banners accused the authorities of having blood on their hands, while some protesters called for the resignations of senior officials and Novi Sad’s mayor. They also demanded prosecution of those responsible, protection for demonstrators and action against people accused of attacking protesters.
Prosecutors had arrested 13 people in connection with the collapse, including a government minister. The minister’s subsequent release contributed to public scepticism about whether the inquiry would establish responsibility. The ruling coalition denied allegations that corruption caused the disaster, and Vučić said those responsible should be held accountable.
The government attempted to ease the widening protest movement by extending school winter holidays and promising subsidies for young people. Those measures did not end demonstrations, which had continued for seven weeks in cities across Serbia. Smaller rallies also took place in Niš and Kragujevac on December 22.
Vučić initially dismissed the protests and accused opposition groups of using students to gain power. After the Slavija Square gathering, he acknowledged that it was significantly large and said he was prepared to hear the protesters’ demands. He rejected calls for a transitional government and maintained that his opponents lacked a political plan beyond mobilisation.
The station disaster became a focus for broader dissatisfaction with Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party, which has dominated national politics since 2012. The president has promoted Serbia’s ambition to join the European Union, but critics accuse his administration of weakening democratic freedoms. The scale and breadth of the Belgrade rally showed that the demand for answers over Novi Sad had grown into a wider test of trust in public institutions. The mobilisation remained peaceful.
