Serbia’s populist Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned Tuesday in an attempt to calm political tensions following weeks of massive anti-corruption protests over the deadly collapse of a concrete canopy.

The canopy collapse in November, which killed 15 people in the northern city of Novi Sad, has become a flashpoint reflecting wider discontent with the increasingly autocratic rule of Serbia’s populist President Aleksandar Vucic. He has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms in Serbia despite formally seeking European Union membership for the troubled Balkan nation.

“It is my appeal for everyone to calm down the passions and return to dialogue,” Vucevic told a news conference announcing his resignation.

Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric also will step down on Tuesday, Vucevic said.

Vucevic’s resignation could lead to an early parliamentary election. The resignation must be confirmed by Serbia’s parliament, which has 30 days to choose a new government or call a snap election.

Early elections

Pro-government media said President Vucic will attend a Cabinet session on Tuesday evening to decide whether a new prime minister-designate will be appointed or an early election called.

On Monday, tens of thousands of people joined striking university students in a 24-hour blockade of a key traffic intersection in the Serbian capital. The students have been protesting for weeks, demanding accountability for the canopy collapse that critics have blamed on rampant government corruption.

In another attempt to defuse tensions, Vucic, Vucevic and Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic on Monday evening urged dialogue with the students, who have so far rebuffed such invitations.

Vucevic said the immediate cause for his quitting was an attack on a female student in Novi Sad early Tuesday by assailants allegedly from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Vucevic said that “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.”

But the outgoing prime minister also said 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.

Freedom

“I can never justify or understand many of these protests, blockades of lives, of roads and the freedom of movement of other citizens,” he said.

Serbia’s prosecutors have filed charges against 13 people, including a government minister and several state officials. But the former Construction Minister Goran Vesic has been released from detention, fueling doubts over the investigation’s independence.

The main railway station in Novi Sad was renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure deal with Chinese state companies.

Several incidents have marred the street demonstrations in the past weeks, including drivers ramming into the crowds on two occasions, when two young women were injured.

Students and others have been holding daily 15-minute traffic blockades throughout Serbia at 11:52 a.m., the exact same time the concrete canopy crashed down on November 1, 2025. The blockades honor the 15 victims, including two children. The blockades were also held on Tuesday.