Taking Back Control: Are Serbia’s Authorities Trying to Subdue State Universities? Academics say state universities across the country are coming under increasing pressure from the authorities, who see them as a hotbeds of organised political dissent that could challenge the Serbian Progressive Party’s long rule at the next elections.

Serbian Progressive Party activists removed their campaign stands from Slavija Square in Belgrade after President Aleksandar Vučić called on them to do so, clearing the space as student activists spray-painted protest slogans ahead of a planned Saturday demonstration.