How a movement of students brought down Serbia's Vučić

What started as weekly student protests demanding justice on university campuses and city streets soon became a national movement, often at a local level, that encompassed far more sections of Serbian society, including farmers, actors and judges.

Vučić's SNS was clearly shaken and by January 2025 his prime minister had resigned "to defuse tensions". In March 2025 Belgrade saw Serbia's biggest ever anti-government protest and as the leaderless student movement increased in strength, they organised themselves through student assemblies or plenums.

By the time Vučić had announced snap elections last month, they were ready. "They have been able to take that emotional momentum into a proper organisation and have people learn how to protect fairness at polling stations," Helena Ivanov explained.