Sustained protests push Serbia toward a defining choice — democracy or drift

['William Booth', 'Ella Al-Shamahi', 'Niha Masih', 'Ariana Eunjung Cha', 'Lena H. Sun', 'Dan Diamond', 'Jim Parrott', 'Washington Post Staff'] The Washington Post 2025-09-22 00:00:00

Pushing the Serbian president too hard could push Serbia away. In 1998, when Serbia was part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a student movement known as “Otpor!” (Resistance!) Advertisement AdvertisementAdvertisement Advertisement“Over the last nine months, Serbia has endured more than 23,000 unregistered gatherings,” Vucic said. The desire to join the European Union is strong in most of the Balkans — but appears to be faltering in Serbia. AdvertisementStudents at every state university in Serbia have joined in shutting down their schools.