Serbian diaspora groups are staging synchronized worldwide protests to demand early elections and accountability following the tragic Novi Sad station collapse.
The worldwide Serbian diaspora will observe 16 minutes of silence at 11:52AM on Saturday (9 May).. The timing marks the moment the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapsed in Serbia, killing 16 people on 1 November 2024, while 9 May 2025 is when student protesters first demanded new elections.. In Brussels, the civil society group Palac gore (Thumbs up, in English) organises the gatherings.. Two of its members, Miloje Savić and Stanislav Marković, discussed the
diaspora’s role in supporting Serbian students.. What is Palac gore, who founded your group, when, and why?. Miloje Savić: Palac gore is an informal Serbian diaspora group.. It was founded in 2021 and the participants joined at various times.. Personally, I joined early last year.. I discovered it when the students who were running the ultramarathon from Belgrade to Brussels arrived in Brussels finally.. Stanislav Marković: Basically the group was a response to various political
events in Serbia.. The first maybe major point was the lithium mining issue [environmental risk] in Serbia, where the group was active.. How many protests have you held in Brussels, how many people have attended them, is it mostly young Serbian expats, or also others?. Marković: We are not only students.. It is a diaspora group – a WhatsApp chat group.. In the widest sense, you have about 300 members.. There are maybe 30 people
who are very active.. If you tell them ‘come here for a protest,’ they will show up.. The students decided to engage the diaspora in a meaningful way this time for these elections that we hope are coming.. In the beginning, when the whole thing began in Novi Sad, we protested several times a month.. The big one was in June last year when the marathon ran from Belgrade to Brussels.. Why is it still
important to show solidarity with the Serbian student movement more than one year after the Novi Sad tragedy.. How do you do it?. Marković: All the diaspora is showing solidarity this weekend.. It is being organised in more than 50 cities around the world at the same local time: 11:52, which is the time when the concrete canopy collapsed at the station in Novi Sad.. Savić: In Serbia, the institutions are not working; the government
is not really functioning except for themselves.. There is a huge need for a reset in the country.. Since the tragedy in Novi Sad in 2024, there are still too many unanswered questions [on who was responsible] and demands from the public, but the government is pretending that nothing happened.. Saturday [9 May] is exactly one year since they [the students] demanded early elections from the government.. We support the students and the citizens who
joined this ‘rebellion’.. We will start our protests in New Zealand and Australia, then it goes across Europe, and finishes somewhere in Vancouver [Canada].. The point is to show solidarity with students.. Are you hoping to make a particular impact on EU policymakers by protesting in the EU capital?. Savić: That is our primary aim.. Also to support the [Serbian] movement in this country by bringing international awareness.. Hopefully, it builds pressure over time and
shows how dysfunctional the [Serbian] state has become.. Marković: Raising awareness is very important, especially in Brussels.. Pressure from here can also help.. It’s part of a movement.. In a way, it is similar to what happened in Hungary.. Where there is a lack of meaningful dialogue with civil society, it is all just a monologue with the government telling everyone how it is going to be.. That is a discrepancy between the distribution of
political power and the real mood of society.. Does your group think president Aleksandar Vučić would listen to the EU if it pressed him for reforms?
Serbian elections, Aleksandar Vučić, Novi Sad, Palac gore, Serbian diaspora, student movement, political reform