Serbia's student movement moves from protest to power after Sunday's election

Summary

Two years after a shoddily built railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people, Serbia's student-led protests have moved toward political power. The Guardian's editorial says the deaths were swiftly blamed on state corruption and regulatory failures, which sparked nationwide student protests, and that Sunday's election has taken the country into a new era. Novak Simin, a member of Serbia's Student List movement, writes that students never sought power. He says the authorities pushed back against demands for justice instead of ordering a full investigation, so students barricaded themselves inside faculty buildings, and that the movement now wants to give people a normal, functioning state.

Timeline

1. The Guardian

   26 Oct 2026, 18:38 UTCSource ↗

   The Guardian's editorial says Sunday's election has taken Serbia into a new era, two years after the Novi Sad canopy collapse sparked student-led protests that some demonstrators hoped would become a democratic revolution.

2. The Guardian

   26 Oct 2026, 19:04 UTCSource ↗

   In an opinion piece, Student List member Novak Simin writes that students never sought power and describes how the November 2024 Novi Sad canopy collapse led students to protest and then barricade themselves in faculty buildings.