Under normal circumstances, Novi Sad student Boris Kojcinovic would currently be scouring guides to master's programs abroad.

But circumstances for students in Serbia are far from normal due to student-led university blockades that have been going on for almost a year now. 

So instead, he divides his time between reading literature for his thesis and checking lists of volunteers for an event that will mark the first anniversary of the collapse of the concrete canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people on November 1, 2024.

Kojcinovic is one of the faces of the student protest movement that, as his fellow activists say, has laid bare what they see as an obvious truth, namely that corruption and systemic negligence led to the canopy collapse almost a year ago.

The student movement is organizing a gathering in the city on Saturday to commemorate those who died at the station. The event will mark the anniversary of a tragedy that has also had a profound impact on Serbian politics and society.

The growth of a movement

"Our victory is that people have realized that something isn't working and that we need a just society with institutions that function," Kojcinovic told DW.

Using the slogan "You've got blood on your hands" and flooding both online and offline spaces with images of red palmprints (the symbol of the protest), the Serbian student protest movement that emerged after the Novi Sad tragedy has over the past 12 months grown into a considerable network with supporters across the country and in the Serbian diaspora.

To make sure their call for justice is heard by as many people as possible, students have crisscrossed the country on foot, talked to people and organized countless demonstrations and protest events nationwide.

Groups of students have even cycled to Strasbourg and run to Brussels to take their message to the European Union.

Enduring student protests

Over the past year, the students have learned to plan, negotiate and endure on a major scale.

But they haven't succeeded in forcing those in power to take responsibility.

The authorities, for their part, have adopted a multi-pronged approach, seeking to "soften up" students and lecturers by offering them cheap housing loans and higher salaries respectively, while using smear campaigns, physical attacks and heavy-handed police interventions to intimidate protesting citizens.

None of these tactics have worked.

A war of attrition

Political scientist Zoran Stojiljkovic described the situation to DW in August as "a balance of powerlessness" — an assessment that Bojan Klacar, executive director of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID), says still holds true.

"We are in a political crisis that has not been fully resolved and for which no final outcome is in sight in the short term," Klacar told DW.

The ruling coalition still lacks full control of the situation and has lost its old dominance, but at least it is more consolidated than it was six months ago, when the protests were at their peak.

"The [ruling Serbian Progressive Party] SNS was mostly on the defensive until the end of April. Today it can set the agenda — and it does," said Klacar.

The students are not in a better position either. Klacar says that the movement has considerably changed the social climate, but not political relations, in the country.

"They are not — in terms of infrastructure, program, ideology or the level of energy that exists at this moment — ready to turn the process in their favor. So, the two blocs are engaged in a game of patience, a battle of nerves and a certain kind of attrition," he said.

Elections will be key                                                                                          

What students want are elections. The authorities, however, rarely mention the subject.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic has only said that elections will be held next year, without specifying when.

Klacar considers the timing of the election to be the SNS's trump card. Choosing the date of the election will allow it to stay one step ahead of its opponents.

"It suits the SNS most for the elections to be held in about a year or somewhat later," he said.

But for a late election to work in the government's favor, the government would have to deliver more "good news" and resolve a number of accumulated problems — from US sanctions on the Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS to possible difficulties in gas supplies.

"Without resolving those issues and without ensuring the stability preferred by SNS voters, I'm not sure the party will be fully ready for elections," said Klacar.

Students insist they'll be ready

For the students, on the other hand, two conditions are decisive: maintaining high protest energy and creating a referendum-like atmosphere, where people would see an election as a poll on Vucic and the SNS.

The students are adamant they will be ready no matter when elections are called because they are already preparing for an election at "full steam."

In addition to organizing protests, they are building an electoral infrastructure that includes teams, observers and a political program.

The students' list of candidates is almost complete but remains shrouded in secrecy.

This has drawn both criticism and praise: While some say voters should know who will be standing for election as soon as possible, others argue that it is wiser to wait to avoid candidates being discredited by the ruling party and aligned media at an early stage.

"The student list resembles the student movement itself," says student Boris Kojcinovic. "It is diverse in education, origin and even political orientation."

"The idea," he adds, "is that we don't think about whether we are conservative or liberal, left or right, whether we are believers or not; we want something in common — and that common goal is a better, properly run, just society with institutions that function."

Determined to keep going

About 10,000 pedestrians and 5,000 cyclists are expected to arrive in Novi Sad on the eve of the November 1 anniversary.

Tens of thousands more are expected to join them on the day of the commemoration gathering itself.

The authorities accuse the students of preparing violence and have pledged a "state response."

The students, on the other hand, have declared unanimously that violence is not their mode of protest.

"It will be a dignified commemorative gathering with an exclusive focus on the victims. A year has passed since those people died under the canopy, and no one has been held accountable — even though reports clearly point to corruption and the involvement of parts of the system," says Boris Kojcinovic.

After a commemorative silence for the victims, the students say they intend to return to making noise — until their demands are met.

"This is how it will be until elections are called where the will of the citizens will not be manipulated, obstructed and abused. I don't see that any other outcome is possible," concludes Kojcinovic.

Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan