The Standoff

Tens of thousands of Serbian university students protested over the weekend against heavy-handed tactics used by the government and secret services to suppress the protests, part of ongoing demonstrations that have been rattling the country for months, the Associated Press reported.

The latest demonstrations, in the capital of Belgrade and the southern city of Nis, included a commemoration of the victims of the collapse of a railway station’s concrete canopy in the northern town of Novi Sad in November, which killed 15 people.

The accident set off months of protests.

The accident is widely blamed on sloppy construction work that critics say was allowed to proceed because of nepotism and corruption. The building has been renovated twice in recent years in a deal with Chinese state companies, the AP said. More than a dozen people are being prosecuted in the case but critics say they don’t believe the investigation is independent.

Meanwhile, protests have transformed into wider demonstrations of discontent about Serbia’s right-wing populist President Aleksandar Vucic and what critics say is his increasingly autocratic style of governing. They want him to step down.

Presidents in Serbia customary hold a ceremonial role but critics say he has amassed vast amounts of power over the past 13 years in office.

Students say they have come under pressure from the country’s security services for taking part in the demonstrations, with officers visiting them at home. Others have seen their personal details such as ages and addresses published by state media, which they say were provided by the government.

Luka Stojakovic told N1 television that “we have learned that BIA (Serbia’s state security agency) can knock on our doors, conduct repression against our parents and invite us for a ‘friendly’ chat,” he told the newswire. “They published our (personal) data and no one was held responsible.”

Meanwhile, classes at some Serbian universities have been suspended for weeks after blockades by students, Reuters reported.

Vucic has accused the West of funding the protests to sow instability in the country. Calling the protests “stupid,” he said he would leave office on his own timetable.