Serbian PM resigns amid mass protests
International Desk || risingbd.com
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic has resigned, following nationwide protests over the deadly collapse of a railway station canopy, BBC reports.
Vucevic said he had taken the decision “in order to avoid further complicating things” and so as to “not further raise tensions in society”.
Fifteen people died in November when a concrete canopy at a railway station collapsed in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city.
The deaths prompted a huge and sustained wave of protests across the country. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets since then, demanding accountability for the collapse and protesting corruption and alleged lack of oversight on construction projects.
Students have taken the lead with the protests, halting traffic daily and blockading universities for months.
Last week, businesses across Serbia heeded the students’ call to take part in a general strike with tens of thousands of people demonstrating in Belgrade.
On Monday, students staged a 24-hour blockade of the busiest road junction in the Serbian capital.
That evening, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said he would pardon students and university tutors who faced charges in connection with the protests and announced a major government reshuffle, saying he expected more than half of ministers to be replaced.
Vucevic said Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric would fulfil “the most political of the demands of some of the most extreme protesters” and resign.
Vucevic, who is the leader of the governing Serbian Progressive Party, has been in office for less than a year.
He previously served as minister of defence and was the mayor of Novi Sad from 2012 to 2020.
More than a dozen people have been charged in connection with the Novi Sad incident, including former Transport Minister Goran Vesic - who resigned days after it happened.
Dhaka/AI