Serbian students cycle for democracy: Protest tour reaches Vienna!

Serbian students cycle for democracy: Protest tour reaches Vienna!

Wien, Österreich - Serbian students continue their protest against the government in a special way: with a bike ride that is now in a stopover in Vienna. The group of 80 students of all state universities in Serbia started on Thursday in Novi Sad. This campaign attracts great attention to the political situation in the Western Balkans and has established itself as part of a more comprehensive protest movement that is directed against corruption and grievances in the country. According to vienna.at A reception is expected in Vienna, which the Serbian diaspora is organized with the participation of around 1,000 People.

The planned bike tour leads to Strasbourg and runs over 13 daily stages with around 100 kilometers each. Today's route of 144 kilometers between Györ and Vienna is on the program. The participants were asked to do without pyrotechnic objects because the police will be on site. This campaign is a direct result of the unrest, which was created on November 1 of last year after the tragic collapse of the train station in Novi Sad. 16 people died in this accident, two ministers then returned because corruption is assumed as a possible reason.

growing protest movement

The students' bicycle campaign is part of a social movement that has won in Serbia in recent years. According to reports, the largest rally took place in mid -March 2023 in Belgrade, in which over 300,000 people protested against the government. However, these protests, some of which were peaceful, were overshadowed by violent clashes and the use of a forbidden sound cannon. The Ministry of the Interior confirmed the existence of such weapons, but campaigned for the name "stronger loudspeaker", such as mdr.de . These incidents have reinforced the resentment among the population and make the protest movement more intense.

student protesters rely on direct democracy and act in meetings that are organized without a central leadership. This has led to the organization of citizens' meetings in all of Serbia, in cities such as Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac. Despite the marginalized opposition, the students will find support from the population that she perceives as a voice of dissatisfaction. Critics suspect that the EU support for President Aleksandar Vučić and the tolerance of current political conditions in Serbia are no longer wearable.