Huge crowds fill Belgrade's Slavija Square for students' final rally before Serbia's election
The student-backed list is challenging President Aleksandar Vučić in Sunday's snap parliamentary election, after almost two years of protests.
Watch the drone video from Slavija Square:
Slavija danas. Pobeda u nedelju 🥇
— ETF Blokada (@etfblokada) October 22, 2026
Supporters of Serbia's student-led protest movement packed Belgrade's central Slavija Square on Thursday evening for the final campaign rally of the "Student List – Students Win" before Sunday's snap parliamentary election. The Associated Press said hundreds of thousands of people took part, filling several blocks of streets around the square, while the Beta news agency put the crowd at tens of thousands.
The rally, called "Victory Calling", capped a multi-day march in which students walked to the capital from the east, west and north of the country. Columns of people set off for Slavija from six directions across Belgrade, and car convoys arrived from other parts of Serbia. The crowd waved Serbian flags and "Students Win" banners, blew whistles, lit flares and chanted "Victory".
Candidates set out what they promised to change from 26 October, the day after the vote, including a judiciary and prosecution free from political pressure and education and healthcare equally available to all. "Serbia deserves freedom, justice and responsibility," said actor Tihomir Stanić, a candidate on the list. At the end, the candidates walked across the stage holding copies of Serbia's constitution.
The election on Sunday, 25 October, is seen as a showdown between President Aleksandar Vučić and a youth movement that has led almost two years of protests against his rule. Vučić held his own closing rally for his Serbian Progressive Party-led list at a sports hall in New Belgrade the same day.