Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on Tuesday, as months of student and civic protests began to take their political toll.

Vucevic is a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and a close political ally of President Aleksandar Vucic.

The mayor of Novi Sad, Serbia's second-largest city, and fellow SNS party member Milan Djuric also resigned.

"This shows that we who were elected to assume responsibility are assuming responsibility so that the situation does not spill over onto the streets and lead to disputes between citizens and divisions in society," Vucevic said at a press conference in Belgrade.

The resignations came the day after news reports from Novi Sad shocked the nation. On Monday evening, students were posting stickers calling for new protests outside the office of the ruling SNS when they were attacked with clubs by assailants who emerged from the building.

According to media reports, the students were brutally beaten, and one young woman was taken to hospital with a fractured jaw.

The attack occurred just a few hours after both the president and prime minister had called for dialogue and claimed to have met all the students' demands.

The protests began in November 2024 after a canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. Since then, a growing number of citizens have been blaming the tragedy and shoddy construction work on widespread corruption in Serbia.

The students are calling for the publication of all documents relating to the renovation of the railway station, which was completed shortly........

© Deutsche Welle