2 years of protests, one crucial election: Serbia's students challenge Vucic's 14-year rule

People light flares as they greet students arriving from their 10-day bicycle journey, as part of Serbia's student-led movement Serbia’s student-led anti-corruption movement, which emerged after a deadly railway station disaster in November 2024, is now mounting its biggest political challenge yet to populist leader Aleksandar Vucic, with an early parliamentary election on October 25 threatening to end the ruling party’s 14-year grip on power.The election comes amid heightened tensions over alleged surveillance and intimidation of government critics. On Monday, digital rights researchers said they had confirmed with “high confidence” that the phone of Vladan Djokic, rector of the University of Belgrade and a prominent supporter of the protests, was infected with Pegasus spyware in 2026 reported AP.The Citizen Lab research group said it conducted the forensic analysis in cooperation with Serbia-based digital rights organisation SHARE Foundation. Pegasus, developed by Israeli company NSO Group, can infiltrate smartphones and give operators access to messages, location data, microphones and cameras.The findings follow reports in September that at least 14 activists and students had th...