Student protests have broken out in several countries of Southeast Europe, with demonstrators rallying in support of protests in Serbia as well as on local issues. 

Students in Bosnia & Herzegovina protested on February 10, criticising the government’s lack of accountability for the funds raised after severe flooding in October 2024. 

The protesters demanded answers from the Bosnian government on where the financial aid has gone, and asked when the flooded areas will be recovered.

In October last year, heavy rainfalls flooded several areas with the most severely hit ones being Jablanica and Konjic in the Muslim-Croat Federation where 29 people lost their lives. Although Bosnia has received donations, so far there has been no progress in the recovery of the damaged villages.

Students argue that the state was responsible for the situation as it was the result of years-long negligence by the authorities, and demand justice for the victims and sentences for those responsible for the situation.

“They were not killed by the rain but by the negligence of respective authorities and institutions which have not acted preventively and responsibly towards lives of all of us, our homes and our property,” the protest organisers wrote on Facebook.

“Nobody has been held accountable for the illegal quarry in Donja Jablanica. Nobody has answered for the lack of forest management laws. Nobody has been punished for unchecked construction that led to these disasters,” they also wrote, as reported in N1info.

Students strongly criticised the slow pace of the investigations, saying that so far only preliminary inquiries have been initiated, and have no deadline to be completed.

Students, organised under the slogan Will Change Happen?, demanded the urgent launch of investigations and prosecution of those responsible for the disaster, including charges against everyone involved in the operation of illegal quarries.

They also demanded transparency regarding donations and public funds.

Spillover effects

The ongoing protests in Serbia have also had a spillover effect with students in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Slovenia all rallying in support of their Serbian counterparts.

In Slovenia, protests were held in the capital Ljubljana. Demonstrators were driven by Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovic’s public endorsement of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The protest began with a minute of silence outside the Serbian embassy at 11:52 am, the exact time the train station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad last November, killing 15 people.

Approximately 1,000 protesters gathered, demanding that Jankovic publicly apologise to both the demonstrators and the residents of Ljubljana and express support for the Serbian student blockade, RTV SLO reported.

Three of the protesters' four key demands were directed at Jankovic: to issue a public apology to the people of Serbia and Ljubljana; to openly support the Serbian student movement and condemn the violence; and for no elections to be called in Serbia until the students' demands — primarily the establishment of a legal and democratic state — are met.

The fourth demand was addressed to the Ljubljana City Council, urging each councillor to take a clear and public stance on the situation.

A list of demands was left in front of City Hall, with protesters warning that if they were not met within a week, they would escalate their actions. During the demonstration, 15 chairs were placed outside City Hall in memory of the victims of the Novi Sad tragedy.

Serbian students hold protest marathon

Meanwhile, protests launched by students in Serbia continued across the country on February 10. Students ran a marathon from Novi Sad to the capital Belgrade, passing an edition of the constitution as a baton.

The marathon runners will join protesters in Kragujevac on February 15, public broadcaster RTS reported. Students from Novi Sad reached Belgrade late on February 10 where they passed the constitution to those who will continue the run.

At the same time, the IT community announced a blockade of Belgrade and Novi Sad in support of protests on February 12.

While students have gathered support, including from professors and other citizens. In response, Vucic threatened that in February professors will only be paid for the days when they go to work, not for those when they participate in protests.

The government also sent a letter to the embassies of all EU member states in Serbia, claiming it had fulfilled all demands made by the students.