Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has announced his resignation amid large protests against corruption and President Aleksandar Vucic.
Vucevic said at a news conference on Tuesday that he had decided to step down to reduce tensions. Student-led demonstrations have been taking place since the deadly collapse of a train station canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad in November.
The prime minister’s announcement came as protesters ended a 24-hour blockade at a major intersection in the capital, Belgrade. The previous evening, with political pressure rising, Vucic hinted that he was ready to drop his hardline approach to the demonstrations and negotiate.
“To avoid further complicating things, so we do not further raise tensions in society, I made this decision,” Vucevic said on Tuesday.
Vucevic, who was mayor of Novi Sad in 2022 when the reconstruction of the station was launched by a Chinese firm, added that the immediate cause for his resignation was an attack on a female student in Novi Sad early on Tuesday by assailants allegedly from Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party.
“Whenever it seems there is hope to return to social dialogue, to talk, … it’s like an invisible hand creates a new incident, and tensions mount again.”
He also said the present mayor of Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city, will also resign.
The 50-year-old became prime minister in April after the Serbian Progressive Party won the most votes in elections marred by tensions.
Expanding protests
Protesters on Tuesday morning packed up and cleared the Autokomanda junction, where several major roads and motorways come together in Belgrade, after camping out overnight.
The blockade followed a call for a general strike on Friday that saw lawyers stop work and small businesses and schools close.
The focus of the protests has expanded since November from the canopy collapse to accusations that it was the result of rampant corruption, to calls for an end to Vucic’s reign, which has run for more than a decade, and early elections.
Student organisers continued to demand more action, including greater transparency surrounding the investigation into the collapse and the release of all documents linked to the renovation of the train station.
More than a dozen people have been charged over the accident, including former Transport Minister Goran Vesic, who resigned days after it occurred.
The government has released some documents on the roof collapse, but experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade said they are incomplete.
Other key demands include dropping charges against protesters arrested at rallies, an end to attacks on demonstrators and increased government spending on education.
Snap vote?
During the blockade, the largely student protesters were offered protection by farmers and bikers. The demonstrators have faced frequent violence as the rallies have persisted, and at least two have been hit by cars.
Vucic addressed the nation on Monday evening, defending his government’s response to the accident in Novi Sad and promising to open dialogue with the protesters.
He had previously dismissed them as being controlled by “Western foreign agents”.
However, the focus now turns to the possibility of snap elections.
Vucevic’s resignation must now be confirmed by Serbia’s parliament, which has 30 days to choose a new government or call snap elections.
Pro-government media said Vucic will attend a cabinet session on Tuesday evening to decide whether a new prime minister-designate will be appointed or early elections called.
Opposition parties said they would insist on a transitional government that would create conditions for free and fair elections after Vucic has faced accusations of irregularities during past votes.
