After a year of student-led protests, the cracks in Serbia’s government have turned into fissures | Srdjan Cvijić

<p>The government of Aleksandar Vučić’s now resembles a political Ponzi scheme: borrowing legitimacy through spectacle while deferring its collapse</p><p>On 1 November 2024, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/01/roof-collapse-serbia-train-station-novi-sad">a concrete canopy collapsed</a> at the railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, killing 16 people. The tragedy triggered the longest <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/25/serbian-students-rally-in-belgrade-in-latest-protest-over-train-station-disaster">wave of protests</a> the country had seen in a decade – a spontaneous uprising against corruption, negligence and the arrogance of power. One year on, the cracks in Serbia’s concrete have turned into fissures in its political foundations.</p><p>The calamity cut deep for two reasons.</p><p>Srdjan Cvijić is a writer and the president of the International Advisory Committee of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy thinktank</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/29/serbia-student-protests-anniversary">Continue reading...</a>