On November 1st, 2024, the canopy of the Novi Sad railway station collapsed and left 16 people dead. This tragedy led to widespread protests across Serbia, with people demanding accountability and attributing the disaster to government corruption and negligence. They also led to various political repercussions, with resignations of some government officials.
On January 17th, 2025, people organized the protest at the RTS headquarters in Belgrade, because of the poor coverage of the protests, comparing the protest symbol, the red handprint, with that of Hamas. At this protest, people paraded with a giant Cobra and a giant sandwich, which mean the following:
Cobras are the special military police unit of the Serbian Armed Forces, who are responsible for close protection, counter-terrorism and other special operations. At the protests, Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, often stated that he would send them to fight the student protesters, which he never did.
The sandwich refers to how the supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, are often paid with sandwiches. It also shows how they would do anything just to get paid, even by committing crimes. Now, Cobra eating a sandwich serves as one of the symbols of corruption in Serbia.
This shows how police are encouraged to use excessive force on peaceful protests. For instance, on April 28th, at the Faculty of Sports in Novi Sad, police attempted to break a student blockade after students prevented Patrik Drid, the dean of the faculty, from entering the blocked faculty. The police used shields, batons, and pepper spray to push back students and force their way into the building.
This clearly has a lot of meaning. Thank you for the backstory.
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Here's the video of the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEp6-Wc6mCQ