BELGRADE: A student-led strike closed down numerous businesses and drew tens of thousands into the streets throughout Serbia on Friday as populist President Aleksandar Vucic planned a big rally to counter persistent anti-government protests that have challenged his tight grip on power.
Daily traffic blockades took place on Friday in various cities and towns in the Balkan nation, held to commemorate the victims of a deadly canopy collapse which killed 15 people in November. Huge crowds later flooded the streets for noisy protest marches through the capital Belgrade and elsewhere in the country.
“Let’s take freedom in our hands,” students told the citizens in their strike call.
Many in Serbia believe the huge concrete canopy at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad fell down because of sloppy reconstruction work that resulted from corruption.
Weeks-long protests demanding accountability over the crash have been the biggest since Vucic came to power more than a decade ago. He has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union membership for Serbia.
It was not immediately possible to determine how many people and companies joined the students’ call for a one-day general strike on Friday. They included restaurants, bars, theaters, bakeries, various shops and bookstores.
Vucic will gather his supporters in the central town of Jagodina later on Friday. He has announced plans to form a nationwide political movement in the style of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin that would help ensure the dominance of his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party.
The president and his mainstream media have accused the students of working under orders from foreign intelligence services to overthrow the authorities while pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked protesting citizens.
No incidents were reported during the 15-minute traffic blockades on Friday that started at 11.52, the exact time of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad.
During a blockade last week in Belgrade, a car rammed into protesting students, seriously injuring a young woman.
Serbian universities have been blockaded for two months, along with many schools. A lawyers’ association also has gone on strike but it remained unclear how many people stayed away from work in the state-run institutions on Friday.
As well as Belgrade and Novi Sad, protest marches were also held Friday in the southern city of Nis and smaller cities, and even in Jagodina ahead of Vucic’s arrival.
“Things can’t stay the same anymore,” actor Goran Susljik told N1 regional television. “Students have offered us a possibility for a change.”
Serbia’s prosecutors have filed charges against 13 people for the canopy collapse, including a government minister and several state officials. But the former construction minister Goran Vesic has been released from detention, fueling doubts over the probe’s independence.
The main railway station in Novi Sad was renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure deal with Chinese state companies.
University students lead a strike in Serbia as populist president plans a rally to counter protests
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University students lead a strike in Serbia as populist president plans a rally to counter protests
- Daily traffic blockades took place on Friday in various cities and towns in the Balkan nation
- “Let’s take freedom in our hands,” students told the citizens in their strike call
Bangladesh’s Gen-Z party faces revolt over alliance with religious party, risking its future
- At least 30 senior leaders of the National Citizen Party have openly opposed its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami
- Before the deal, opinion polls predicted Jamaat finishing a close second behind Bangladesh Nationalist Party
DHAKA: A Bangladeshi youth-driven party born out of the country’s 2024 uprising is facing an open revolt from within after sealing an election alliance with a religious group, a move analysts say could jeopardize its future and reinforce established parties.
At least 30 senior leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP) have openly opposed its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, announced on Sunday, with several resigning in protest.
The Muslim-majority South Asian nation goes to the polls on February 12.
Before the deal, opinion polls had predicted Jamaat finishing a close second behind the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, while the NCP lagged far behind in third place.
“The NCP presented itself as a youth-driven alternative to traditional power structures. That identity is now under serious strain,” said H.M. Nazmul Alam, an academic.
“Youth-based movements do not collapse only because they lose elections. They collapse when they lose clarity and internal unity.”
’ALLIANCE FOR GREATER UNITY’
The NCP was formed earlier this year by leaders of the protests that ousted long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August, 2024, forcing her to flee to India. Driven by Gen-Z activists born after the late 1990s, it says it aims to free the nation from decades of nepotism and the dominance of Hasina’s Awami League and the BNP.
With the Awami League banned, the vote will be effectively a direct contest between the BNP and Jamaat, which has trailed the other two in the past and had not been allowed to contest any elections since 2013 after a court said its registration as a political party conflicted with Bangladesh’s secular constitution.
An interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus revoked all the restrictions on Jamaat in August 2024.
The NCP’s struggle shows the challenges of turning street power into votes and holds lessons for neighboring Nepal, where similar youth-led protests ousted the government this year and fresh elections are due in March, political analysts have said.
NCP chief Nahid Islam told a press conference late on Sunday that the recent killing of 32-year-old Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in the uprising, forced his party to seek an alliance to keep at bay forces trying to derail the election through violence.
“The dictatorship we overthrew is attempting to sabotage the election. Therefore, for the sake of greater unity, we have reached an electoral understanding with Jamaat,” said Nahid, 27.
“This was a majority decision within the party, but some may be opposed to it and they are free to take their own decisions.”
Hadi was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka earlier in December while launching his election campaign as an independent candidate. Police say they have identified the killers but have not apprehended them.
’YOUR CENTRIST IDEA AND IDEOLOGY WILL VANISH’
Nahid earlier told Reuters his organization was weak because it had not had enough time to build itself. It was also hampered by scarce funds and an unclear stance on key issues such as rights for women and minorities, Reuters reported in early December, citing party leaders who said alliance talks had been underway for some time.
One senior NCP leader to have resigned is Tasnim Jara, a doctor who left a career in Britain to join the party. She is now seeking the support of nearly 5,000 voters to be allowed to contest as an independent.
“I promised you and the people of this country that I would fight for you and for building a new political culture,” she said on Facebook. “Whatever the circumstances, I am determined to keep that promise.”
Political analyst Asif Shahan, a professor at the University of Dhaka, said the NCP was “doomed.”
“If you go with Jamaat, it will help Jamaat, not you,” he said. “It will give them a liberal cover, and in return, you will become a force for the right. Your centrist idea and ideology — already poorly defined — will simply vanish.”
