More than one million people attended the protests against President Aleksandar Vučić’s government in Belgrade, marking the largest street demonstrations in Serbian history. The numbers are estimated to be even bigger than the number of protesters in rallies that lead to the resignation of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000.
The protests in Serbia were originally started by university students when a newly built roof of a train-station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing up to fourteen people, in November last year. The tragedy of Novi Sad is considered by Serbians as a typical case of government corruption in public projects, but the deaths that were caused as a result of the tragedy angered many people. Protests eventually grew into massive and regular rallies in Belgrade and even in other cities with calls for the government and the President to resign.
Protests in Serbia have continued despite the launch of an inquiry into the tragedy and several government resignations. Protests in Belgrade have also been going on ever since President Vucic has been accused of rigging the elections in his favour. The pro-Russian President and his cronies are considered corrupt, while many young people want Serbia to join the EU. Although the protests in Belgrade are not specifically aimed for EU membership, many Serbian protesters want the government to resign over its rampant abuse of the rule-of-law and and its anti-democratic behaviour. The protests were also targeted by pro-government thugs and subsonic weaponry.
A massive anti-government protest also took place in Budapest yesterday with many Hungarians demanding for the government to resign as confidence grows in Hungary that the government is losing its majority support. Pro-EU protests also took place in Bucharest, Romania where the elections are currently being compromised by Russia and its financing of pro-Russia and anti-EU candidates.
Penultimate footage shows Budapest while the last footage shows Bucharest.
Newsroom
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