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Serbia PM Milos Vucevic quits after months of mass protests

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Guy de Lony

BBC Balkan correspondent

grey placeholderGetty Images Milos Vucevic stands in front of two microphones. He wears glasses, a sea suit, and a light blue tieGety pictures

Milos Vucevic was in office for less than a year

Serbian Prime Minister Milus Vucevic, after protests at the country level, resigned on the deadly collapse of the railway station.

He said he acted to “avoid increasing the complexity of things” and that “did not increase the increased tensions in society.”

Fifteen people died in November when a concrete umbrella collapsed at a railway station in the city of Novey Sad. Tens of thousands of people have been moving regularly to the streets since then, demanding accountability for collapse and protest against corruption.

In a late TV speech on Tuesday, President Alexander Fuzic said that he will decide during the next ten days whether parliamentary elections will be held or a new government will be formed.

More than ten people were charged with the Novi Sad accident, including former Transport Minister Gourane Vezic – who resigned days after it occurred.

Students took the initiative with the protests, and the daily traffic and exclusive universities stopped for several months.

Last Friday, many Serbians were out of work in response to an invitation to a general strike, while an estimated 100,000 people attended a demonstration in Belgrade. Several smaller protests were held in cities and cities throughout the country.

Tensions rose on Monday when, during a 24 -hour blockade of the most busy intersection in the capital, Belgrade, a student was injured in clashes between opposition and supporters of the ruling party.

In that evening, President Vocic said that he would forgive students and university teachers who faced charges regarding the protests and announced a major government amendment, saying that he expects to replace more than half of the ministers.

In a speech on Tuesday after an emergency meeting with the government, the president said he would pardon 13 people on Wednesday.

He insisted that the government has now met the demands of the student demonstrators to transparently on rebuilding the Novi Sad railway station.

The opposition parties call for a transitional government that they say can create conditions for free and fair elections. But Vocic rejected these demands, saying that the Serbians “want ordinary people in power, not politicians who have no confidence.”

Vocic also revealed that he was thinking about “three or four names” for Vucevic backwardness – but added that he was open to other suggestions.

grey placeholderReuters students protest in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. Photo: January 28, 2025Reuters

The death of November in Novi Sad pushed a huge and sustainable wave of protests across Serbia

Vucevic, the leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, was in office for a year.

He previously served as Minister of Defense and was the mayor of Novi Sad – the second largest city in Serbia – in 2012-20, during the early stages of the reconstruction project for the railway station.

Vucevic said the Novi Sad Milan Djuric mayor will achieve the “most extremist protesters” and also resign.

The question now is whether the departures will be sufficient to calm young people who were increasingly and increasingly increasing.

The change in the prime minister is less important than it may appear at the beginning, because the real power in Serbia lies in Vocic.

Vucevic – a reliable ally of the president – said he hopes to encourage his decision to resign as prime minister protesters to “calm feelings and return to dialogue.”

But it may also pave the way for the parliamentary elections, if a new prime minister is not appointed within 30 days of the National Assembly, confirming the resignation.

Vocic was also pushing the idea of ​​a “consulting referendum” on his own role, saying that he would stop if he lost this vote.

However, the change in power seems unlikely.

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party is well organized-and the international election screens indicated that it dominates the media space in Serbia.

He won comfortably the latest parliamentary elections more than a year ago. On the other hand, the opposition remains broken and without many allies in the media.

The reaction of the demonstrators may be decisive to what happens after that.

If he sees enough of them the Prime Minister’s resignation as an important development, the last range of demonstrations may fade in a similar number of movements previous to combat government.

If they decide to continue to protest, the disturbance may be set in Serbia to continue.

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2025-01-28 21:16:00

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