(14 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nova Pazova, Serbia – 14 March 2025
1. Various of students marching towards Belgrade
2. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Emilija Djurdjevic, student:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 1++
"We have our reasons for this march. We have our demands and we are waiting for them to be fulfilled. Also our Belgrade colleagues have invited us, so we are on our way."
3. Local woman crying, waving to students
4. Villagers wave at students
5. Woman yelling "good luck" to students
6. Villagers distribute water to students
7. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Emilija Djurdjevic, student:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 6++
"I honestly hope that there will not be any major problems. That problems will not await us there (Belgrade). We are coming in peace and we do not intend to do anything that should not be done. So my expectation is only positive and love, if possible."
8. Mid of students resting
9. Various of students marching
STORYLINE:
Thousands of students in Serbia on Friday continued to march towards Belgrade to attend an anti-government rally planned for Saturday in the capital.
Students from hundreds of towns across Serbia have joined forces and will arrive on foot in Belgrade on Friday evening, where they will gather ahead of Saturday’s rally.
Serbia’s capital was on edge ahead of the major anti-government rally, with populist authorities of President Aleksandar Vucic ramping up efforts to dissuade people from attending.
The protest on Saturday is seen as a culmination of months of anti-graft demonstrations in the Balkan country and a test for Vucic’s right-wing government, which has faced mounting popular discontent.
The autocratic Serbian president has repeatedly warned that violence is planned at the rally while also threatening arrests over any incidents.
Vucic’s supporters have been camping in the city center, fueling fears of clashes with the protesters.
Despite mounting tensions, tens of thousands of students and other protesters are expected to converge on Belgrade from all over Serbia.
Students who have been marching or cycling toward Belgrade for days are expected to arrive on Friday evening for a festival-like welcome downtown.
Previous student-led rallies in other Serbian cities have been peaceful while drawing huge crowds.
University students in Serbia are a key force behind the nationwide anti-graft movement which started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s north more than four months ago, killing 15 people.
Almost daily protests have rattled Vucic’s firm grip on power in Serbia with the momentum gradually building in favor of the demands for change.
Serbia is formally seeking European Union entry but the ruling populists have been accused of stifling democratic freedoms while strengthening relations with Russia and China.
Vucic has rejected proposals to form a transitional government that would schedule an election in six months.
He has said he will step down “only if they kill me.”
The Serbian president has described the protests as a Western-orchestrated ploy to oust him from power and “destroy” Serbia.
He is set to address the nation later on Friday.
Many in Serbia blamed the crash on Nov. 1 in Novi Sad on government corruption and negligence that resulted in poor renovation work on the central train station building.
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