Short personal anecdote from me. I was recently in Serbia (I do not speak Serbian, which could mean that I got heavily biased answers) and I got the chance to ask a few people this question directly.
Some takeaway points:
The idea that Serbia can/will be part of the EU and everyone will live happily ever after has taken hold of most people I spoke with;
If the beginning of the protests were astroturfed, they have been extremely successful at bringing people into this movement; because at the heart of it, people ARE pissed off about corruption;
Apparently talking politics in Serbia was a somewhat taboo topic...now it is completely reversed, it is taboo to NOT state your position on these protests.
One family (middle aged mother, father and kids) walked past my campsite where I was having a chat with a Serbian couple, the father talked to them for less than one minute, in that time he managed to ask them if they support the government or not.
I forgot to look this up because I'm a lazy piece of shit, but two people said to me that the renovated train station that collapsed and sparked this protest was done by a Chinese company. This is leading people to believe that every piece of Chinese-built infrastructure in the country (which is quite a lot) is a scam/corrupt and it will fall over within a week of opening.
As I said, all personal anecdotes from the mouths of some Serbs I met last month, take it with a grain of salt.
Trip was good, saw a small slice of Serbia, need to go back for more.
During my stay in Belgrade there was no large protest, I can't really comment on transport/infrastructure for that reason. Regarding daily life, there are small reminders around the city everywhere.
The only "active" protest I saw was the "students 2.0" encampment near the presidential palace...that was some astroturfing
Short personal anecdote from me. I was recently in Serbia (I do not speak Serbian, which could mean that I got heavily biased answers) and I got the chance to ask a few people this question directly.
Some takeaway points:
The idea that Serbia can/will be part of the EU and everyone will live happily ever after has taken hold of most people I spoke with;
If the beginning of the protests were astroturfed, they have been extremely successful at bringing people into this movement; because at the heart of it, people ARE pissed off about corruption;
Apparently talking politics in Serbia was a somewhat taboo topic...now it is completely reversed, it is taboo to NOT state your position on these protests.
One family (middle aged mother, father and kids) walked past my campsite where I was having a chat with a Serbian couple, the father talked to them for less than one minute, in that time he managed to ask them if they support the government or not.
As I said, all personal anecdotes from the mouths of some Serbs I met last month, take it with a grain of salt.
How was your trip? Are protests visibly affecting regular life, infrastructure, transport?
Trip was good, saw a small slice of Serbia, need to go back for more.
During my stay in Belgrade there was no large protest, I can't really comment on transport/infrastructure for that reason. Regarding daily life, there are small reminders around the city everywhere.
The only "active" protest I saw was the "students 2.0" encampment near the presidential palace...that was some astroturfing
Thank you! I'm planning a trip there so wondered how disruptive the protests are cause going with a small child.