Belgrade, Serbia — Serbia’s populist Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on Tuesday in an effort to defuse political tensions and pressure sparked by weeks of large anti-corruption rallies over the fatal collapse of a concrete canopy. The November canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad, which killed 15 people, has become a flashpoint for wider unhappiness with Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s increasingly authoritarian leadership. Despite formally seeking EU membership for the embattled Balkan nation, he has been accused of restricting democratic liberties in Serbia.

“It is my request that everyone calm down their emotions and return to dialogue,” Vucevic said at a news conference announcing his resignation. Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric also resigned on Tuesday. Vucevic’s resignation might trigger an early legislative election. The resignation must be approved by Serbia’s parliament, which has 30 days to form a new government or hold a quick election. According to pro-government media, President Vucic will attend a Cabinet session on Tuesday evening to determine whether to install a new prime minister-designate or call an early election. Opposition parties have stated that they will want a transitional administration to ensure a free and fair election. During previous elections, Vucic’s populists were accused of voting violations. Vucevic became became the prime minister in April 2024, after the Serbian Progressive Party won most votes in an election marred by tensions.

“They (ruling party) have been in a free fall since the Novi Sad tragedy,” journalist Slobodan Georgiev said on N1 television, adding that Vucic was looking for a “buffer” with the prime minister’s departure. Vucic has previously been able to mitigate the impact of anti-government street rallies, but the current student movement has received widespread support from people of all backgrounds, including actors, farmers, attorneys, and judges.

The students’ appeal for justice has resonated in a country where corruption is rampant and few believe that public institutions work in the best interests of citizens. Branimir Jovancicevic, a professor at Belgrade’s Faculty of Chemistry, expressed hope that Vucevic’s resignation will be the first step toward greater political changes in Serbia, where the president wields enormous authority despite the fact that his constitutional position is essentially ceremonial. “If the president thinks that by replacing one, essentially, unimportant figure … will solve the problem … he is deeply mistaken,” noted Jovancicevic. “This must lead to total political changes because autocracy and dictatorship in Serbia, in the heart of Europe, must go.

In another attempt to ease tensions, Vucic, Vucevic, and Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic requested talks with the students on Monday evening, despite their previous refusal. They argue that government institutions such as the police and the judiciary should hold negotiations with them rather than Vucic. Vucevic stated that the immediate cause of his resignation was an attack on a female student in Novi Sad early Tuesday by assailants purportedly from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Vucevic described it as: “whenever it seems there is hope to return to social dialogue, to talk … it’s like an invisible hand creates a new incident and tensions mount again.” However, the outgoing prime minister stated that the street protests “undoubtedly” have been organized from abroad “with an aim to directly jeopardize Serbia as a state.” Vucevic offered no evidence for his claims that echoed earlier similar statements by Vucic.

“I can never justify or understand many of these protests, blockades of lives, of roads and the freedom of movement of other citizens,” according to him. Students in Novi Sad said they were outraged by the assault, which they claimed was carried out by criminals armed with baseball bats. Students reported that they attacked two groups of students and chased them in their automobile. Prosecutors later announced four persons had been apprehended. “We are horrified over the state of our society where such a situation is possible,” the students wrote on Instagram. “We have had enough of blood.” In response to the incident, students organized a large march in Novi Sad later Tuesday. Serbian prosecutors have brought charges against 13 individuals, including a government official minister and several state officials for the November canopy collapse. But the former Construction Minister Goran Vesic, who had resigned shortly after the canopy crash, has been released from detention, fueling doubts over the investigation’s independence.

Novi Sad’s main railway station was renovated and inaugurated twice in recent years as part of a larger infrastructure deal with Chinese state companies and a fast railway link with neighboring Hungary. Several incidents have marred the street demonstrations in the past weeks, including drivers ramming into crowds on two occasions, injuring two young women. Students and others have been holding daily 15-minute traffic blockades throughout Serbia at 11 a.m.