LAST UPDATE | 15 Mar

PROTESTS BY IRELAND’s Serbian community have taken place today in Dublin and Cork in response to a controversy engulfing the country’s politics.

It’s in support of mass demonstrations in the nation’s capital Belgrade where tens of thousands of people were joining the rally that is part of an anti-corruption movement in the Balkan nation.

Serbian communities worldwide are holding simultaneous peaceful gatherings in 54 cities across Europe, North America and Australia.

The protests – led mainly by students – were ignited in the wake of the deadly collapse of a railway station roof that killed 15 people in the northern city of Novi Sad last November.

Rescuers rest at the scene after an outdoor roof collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad last year. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Corruption has been considered to be an impediment to the country’s candidacy for EU membership, with Transparency International placing the country at 105th on its Corruption Perceptions Index.

Since that deadly incident, the protest movement has put increasing pressure on the Serbian government and its president Aleksandar Vucic, spurring the resignation of several high-ranking officials, including the prime minister in January.

It also saw Serbian opposition MPs light flares and lob suspected tear gas during the opening day of the spring session of parliament, to show support for the anti-corruption protests.

Antonije Ćatić, a Dublin-based national spokesperson for the voluntary Serbs in Ireland Initiative, said the tragedy fuelled long-simmering anger over alleged “corruption in the planning system”.

He said there has been long been anger over lax oversight with controversial construction projects, along with the “technical quality and finances” of various works.

“Together with other Serbs from Dublin and Cork we want to give support to the ongoing protests in Serbia,” said Ćatić, who hails from Belgrade but is studying a PhD in planning at UCD.

One of the Serbian nationals protesting in Dublin today. Serbs in Ireland Initiative Serbs in Ireland Initiative

Ćatić pointed to unhappiness around Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party, which he said has not acted fast enough in response to the protests.

“It’s 13 years of the same ruling party, the same political system,” he said. “The students are demanding that the processes, around of finances and documentation of projects are made very transparent.”

As well as Ireland, Serbian communities worldwide are aiming to hold simultaneous peaceful gatherings in 54 cities across Europe, North America and Australia.

The Cork protest took place from the Western Road gates of UCC, and Dublin protest from the GPO on O’Connell Street.

Some of the Serbian diaspora outside the gates of UCC in Cork today. Serbs in Ireland Initiative Serbs in Ireland Initiative

With reporting by – © AFP2025