The uprising of tens of thousands of young Serbs outraged at corruption and civil liberties violations is a growing challenge to Aleksandar Vučić’s government.
A student protester has been taken to hospital in Belgrade after being hit by a car during an anti-government demonstration on Thursday.
Footage shared on social media showed the young woman on the roof of the vehicle as it drove through a crowd and tumbling off the back of it as it drove away.
Authorities say the 20-year-old woman suffered severe trauma in the accident. The driver said to be 38 years old, has been found and apprehended.
Since the incident, other students have responded by calling for a “total blockade” on social media.
The demonstration where the woman was hurt is the latest in a long-running series of protests against the Serbian government by students outraged at various overlapping issues, including a crackdown on civil liberties and last year’s deadly collapse of a concrete awning at a station in the northern city of Novi Sad — a disaster widely blamed on corruption and negligence in public contracting.
The ensuing student strike has seen classes suspended for weeks. Some protesters claim they have faced interference and harassment from the authorities, including in some cases physical abuse.
President Aleksandar Vučić has accused the students of receiving money from the West for their protests, while pro-government media outlets have published some protesters’ personal data, something that protesters believe would not be possible without the involvement of the country’s secret service, BIA.
Nonetheless, the protesting students have received significant popular support, and their rallies continue to draw tens of thousands of people.
Vučić has called the protesters “stupid”, saying in a televised interview last Sunday that “they live in their own world”.
“They are not my problem, but I blame those who are pushing them about all this. I mean their professors,” he told local Pink TV.
Serbia’s prosecutors have charged 13 people, including a former government minister and several state officials, over the train station awning collapse. However, students have pledged to continue their protests due to doubts over the probe’s independence under the authorities.
