Resignation 101

Serbia’s prime minister Milos Vučević stepped down Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions following weeks of massive student-led anti-corruption protests over the deadly collapse of a concrete canopy in November, the Associated Press reported.

The accident, at a rail station in the northern city of Novi Sad, killed 15 people and sparked protests. Demonstrators initially demanded justice for the victims amid allegations of corruption in the procurement process for the canopy. However, after a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters by the government, the protests broadened with calls for the autocratic rule of populist President Aleksandar Vučić and his administration to end.

“In order not to further raise tensions in society, I made this decision,” said Vučević, announcing his resignation, even as pressure grows on Vučić, who has been in power for more than a decade.

Vučević said the immediate cause for his quitting was an attack on a female student in Novi Sad early Tuesday by assailants allegedly from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

Vučević’s resignation could lead to an early parliamentary election.

The protests, which have become a daily event, have shut down universities, schools, businesses, and roads, and led to strikes. Some have drawn up to 100,000 people, the largest demonstrations in the country since those that overthrew longtime ruler Slobodan Milošević in 2000.

The student-led protests have grown to include lawyers, farmers, and actors, with much of the public backing them, recent polls showed. The president has launched counter-protests.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the striking university students began a 24-hour blockade of a key traffic intersection in Belgrade, AP reported separately.

Later Monday, Vučić and other officials said they would initiate talks with the protesters, who declined.