Breaking Point

Escalating demonstrations in Serbia spotlight deep divisions and growing instability in the heart of the Balkans

- BY MATTHEW TOSTEVIN IN BELGRADE

STUDENT PROTESTERS HAVE BEEN OUT AGAIN IN SERBIA'S CHILLY WINTER WINDS TO gather signatures demanding an early election to try to oust President Aleksandar Vucic.

Pressure is growing on Vucic after more than a year of anti-corruption protests. They were first triggered by the deadly collapse of a railway station canopy and have continued despite their suppression by security forces and arrests by a government that has accused demonstrators of seeking a Western-orchestrated “color revolution.”

Another blow to Vucic near the end of 2025 was the withdrawal of an investment firm linked to U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner from a plan to build a Trump Tower on a controversial site in Belgrade—in part because of the growing protests.

Then a key oil refinery had to stop processing crude oil because of U.S. sanctions on its Russian majority-owners. Meanwhile, Serbia's hopes of joining the European Union have stalled and it did not attend a summit of other Balkan candidate countries in December, complaining that its reforms to join the bloc had not been recognized.

Vucic’s office did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment on the protests and the other challenges to his rule.

“People are not afraid anymore. They don’t fear these authorities, and all state institutions, government institutions, are actually not completely destroyed, but they are extremely weak,” independent national assembly member Sinisa Ljepojevic told Newsweek. “The man at the top is now relying on [paramilitary] police units that are many of them thugs.”