Serbia's students demand resignations in police, judiciary as they prepare to take power

Serbia 's student movement on Thursday demanded the resignations of top officials in the police, intelligence agencies and the judiciary as they prepare to take power after a historic election win last weekend against former strongman leader Aleksandar Vucic.

The students at a news conference also urged Serbia's election authorities to officially declare the final results of Sunday's ballot without delay after a rerun at some 50 polling stations next Sunday, so that a new Parliament and government can be formed.

The Students’ List movement swept the parliamentary election on Sunday against Vucic’s right-wing Serbian Progressive Party, which has ruled unchallenged for 14 years. The outgoing authorities remain in control as the formal transition of power will take several weeks.

“Changes are starting now,” student Filip Ubovic said at the news conference held at a central Belgrade park that used to be a sealed-off area occupied by Vucic's loyalists. “Institutions belong to the citizens and the law applies to everyone.”

Vucic's party has gradually taken control over all state institutions since it came to power in 2012. The SNS party has been accused of rampant corruption and cronyism, links to organized crime and pressure on the judiciary, police and the media, which the populists have denied.

The students on Thursday asked public servants to prevent outgoing officials from destroying documentation or evidence of potential wrongdoing.

Vucic on Thursday held a news conference of his own, accusing the election winners of “revolutionary terror" after groups of people stormed the Informer TV station that led the preelection propaganda branding the students as traitors and enemies of the state.

Suspicions of state corruption in infrastructure projects two years ago set off a wave of street protests after a collapsed canopy at a train station in Serbia's north killed 16 people after a renovation. The students led those protests before challenging and defeating Vucic at the early ballot on Sunday.

The students' win on Sunday marks the first time that a grass-root youth movement toppled a well-established political leader. It comes at the moment when similar movements are mushrooming across Europe.

The students said in their briefing that top police officials and the intelligence agencies had served Vucic's party during the protests in violation of the law. They have been accused of using excessive force against protesters, illegal surveillance, detention and pressure on Vucic's political opponents.

The students also demanded changes in the judiciary and urgent investigations in top-level corruption cases that might have been sidelined due to political pressure under Vucic. They promised that all contracts and public spending deals will be reviewed.

“The Students' List is not here to take revenge,” Ubovic said. “We are not asking for political service but for the adherence to the laws, professionalism and responsibility.”

There was no immediate response from the police commanders, judges and prosecutors who the students asked to step down.

The general manager of the state Serbian RTS television, Manja Grcic, has resigned while the public broadcaster's branch in Novi Sad, the site of the November 2024 train station tragedy, has apologized to the viewers for selective and non-professional reporting.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership but the bid has stalled under Vucic due to democratic backsliding and close ties to Russia. EU officials have offered help to the new authorities in boosting Serbia's democracy and the rule of law.