An ongoing series of mass protests in Serbia began following a railway station canopy collapse in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, which left 16 people dead and one severely injured. Citizens from all over the country started holding 16-minute silent vigils at 11:52, the time of the collapse, followed by mass student protests and university blockades that lasted for most of the academic year. Led by students, between 275,000 and 325,000 people gathered in Belgrade on March 15th 2025, to demand justice for the victims.
”… the biggest student-led movement in Europe since 1968”
– Slavoj Žižek
Involving over 400 cities and towns across Serbia and a wide range of non-violent methods (street blockades, boycotts, marches, performances, and artistic interventions), this has been the largest protest in the modern history of Serbia, and in the words of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, “the biggest student-led movement in Europe since 1968”.
In April 2025, around 80 students set off on a 1400km bicycle journey from Novi Sad to Strasbourg, France, to deliver a letter to European institutions. Students from Novi Pazar walked 340km over the course of twelve days to join their peers in Novi Sad on the first anniversary of the tragic canopy collapse. These feats inspired a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Serbian students in 2025, as well as a massive retaliation from the government – over 900 students have been detained during protests, and there have been many incidents of police brutality.
To see the full photo gallery of the marches, blockades, and the historic student movement that moved Europe, get the digital edition of City Less Ordinary.
Photos by Gavrilo Andrić
