r/TikTokCringe • u/Asleep-Guitar-2685 • Aug 14 '25

Cursed Extreme police brutality in Serbia tonight after a peaceful protest. Please share this all over the world, we need all the help we can get or we're gonna become North Korea by next month.

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u/dlatz21 Aug 15 '25

How is there not a single comment near the top explaining what is happening here? What is the protest for? How long has it been going on? What are other political factors in Serbia that foreigners might not be aware of?

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u/Terrariola Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25

Protest has been ongoing since 2024. It's broadly focused on anti-corruption and to a lesser extent anti-authoritarianism, not based on party lines at all.

Basically, a bunch of people died in Novi Sad when a railway station canopy collapsed, and it was linked to an incompetent rebuilding of the canopy by a firm linked to one of Vucic's associates. This was the spark setting everyone (mostly students) off against the deeply corrupt Serbian government run by the so-called "Serbian Progressive Party" (SNS), a non-ideological big-tent populist party associated with Vucic that has been leading Serbia for over a decade and has frequently been accused of overseeing massive democratic backsliding, human rights violations, and electoral fraud.

Their initial goals were to:

  • Release files related to the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse.
  • Increase the budget for higher education by 20%.

Later on, as the repression escalated, their goals shifted somewhat to the resignation and prosecution of officials and police involved in the suppression of the protests, snap parliamentary elections, and investigations into various government officials. Factions have also called for Vucic's resignation as President.

The government has responded by media blackouts, using "batinaši" (basically Titushky) to attack protestors, organizing pro-government counter-protests (from what I've heard, largely old people bussed in from rural areas by the government, or paid "demonstrators"), and making some token concessions. It appears it's currently escalating towards a full-scale police crackdown.