CIVICUS speaks with Mihajlo Matković, a student activist and member of the CIVICUS Youth Action Team, about anti-corruption protests that have swept Serbia over the past year.

Since November 2024, Serbia has witnessed one of its largest protest movements in decades following a deadly railway station canopy collapse that unleashed anger at systemic corruption. The student-led campaign expanded nationwide, with over 300,000 people mobilising to demand accountability and democratic reform in March 2025. Despite mass arrests, intimidation and police violence, the movement continues.

How did the movement begin and what has it achieved so far?

The protests began shortly after the collapse of a railway station canopy roof in Novi Sad in November 2024, which took 16 lives. Authorities tried to frame it as a tragic accident, but it was clear to everyone this was a product of corruption and negligence, not chance. The slogan that emerged, ‘This is not an accident, this is corruption murder’, captured the anger of a generation that has had enough of impunity.

What started as a student initiative has become one of the largest civic mobilisations in Serbia’s history. Over the past year, we’ve seen daily vigils across over 400 locations, blockades involving 85 higher education institutions, 500 secondary schools joining and tens of thousands of academics, students and teachers at all levels showing solidarity. On 15 March, over 300,000 people marched in Belgrade, the largest protest in Serbia since the 2000 demonstrations that toppled authoritarian president Slobodan Milošević. The large turnout, confirmed by the Archive of Public Gatherings, was a clear sign that people across communities and generations were fed up with corruption, lies and violence.

How has the movement organised?

On a faculty level, it all started with plenums — open student assemblies at university faculties. These were spaces for direct democracy, where we debated and decided together. Each faculty held its own plenum, and decisions and ideas were shared at the university level as well. Following our example, citizen assemblies emerged in cities and towns across Serbia, where people began to organise around local issues to hold authorities accountable. Of course, everything being a learning curve, some things required rethinking, reorganising and (r)evolution.

The movement was decentralised and self-organised. We built logistics from scratch, including coordination committees, crowd stewards, data sheets, social media teams and volunteer shifts. And broader society joined in with donations and support. People brought food and other donations to the faculty. We slept there for weeks, and for some students, months on end. It had to become a community, keeping each other safe, with the space welcoming to all.

We also turned to creative, symbolic actions such as cycling 1,476 kilometres to Strasbourg and running a 1,933-kilometre relay to Brussels to draw the attention of European institutions. Some of us marched hundreds of kilometres between Serbian cities. Recently, because of the anniversary, several students walked from Novi Pazar to Novi Sad for a symbolic 16 days. This was one of the most emotional moments so far because it showed unity is possible even in a country so divided. Every step has become a message: that people are reclaiming ownership of their country and their lives.

What role have civil society groups played in sustaining the movement?

From the very beginning, it was clear that this was a student movement. Civil society groups have been crucial in providing support based on experience in the field and playing a part in the ecosystem. Environmental groups, independent media outlets, legal aid organisations and teachers’ unions joined forces with us. Many civil society groups have coordinated solidarity actions, documented abuses and supported detainees, which is important, particularly since at some points, it seemed everyone expected students to have all the answers and initiate all the actions. But it was a learning curve.

The protests have created a new ecosystem of collaboration between youth movements, local communities and established civic organisations. Most importantly, it has awakened many elements of our society that are learning from each other in real time. Platforms such as blokade.org have become living archives of civic action, mapping local campaigns, protests and corruption scandals that fuel public anger. As a result, people can see the scale of what’s happening and know they’re part of something bigger.

How is the government responding?

It’s responding with arrests, attacks on academia, excessive force and threats. On 15 March, police used a sonic weapon during a silent vigil in Belgrade, injuring protesters. Authorities have detained hundreds of protesters, and many face politically motivated charges. A website, Let Them All Out, has documented every arrest and prosecution since the start of the movement.

Repression has only strengthened our resolve. The government thinks repression will silence us, but what it does instead is remind us why we’re protesting. Every arrest brings more people onto the streets. We’re tired, but we’ve already lasted a year. We’ll continue mobilising for as long as it takes.

My hope is that the regime recognises it’s no longer welcome and steps down peacefully. But whatever happens, we’ve already proven that democracy and human rights are not foreign concepts; they belong to us. We haven’t inherited democracy; no one really ever set any examples of it, so we’ve had to reinvent it ourselves. And that is the power of my generation: we have proven that it’s always been inherent to us.

This interview was conducted during International Civil Society Week 2025, a five-day gathering in Bangkok that brought together activists, movements and organisations defending civic freedoms and democracy around the world. International Civil Society Week was co-hosted by CIVICUS and the Asia Democracy Network.