Aleksandar Vučić under increasing pressure

(Patria) - Protests in Serbia are not subsiding, which shows that many citizens do not want to wait for elections, but want them immediately, German-language media write after the protests and clashes on Vidovdan, reports Deutsche Welle.

"There were arrests and injuries in violent clashes between police and demonstrators during mass protests against the government in Belgrade," reports the largest German agency dpa.

The report states that there were about 140,000 people at the protests, although the authorities announced that there were significantly fewer – around 36,000.

"Demonstrators traveled to Belgrade from all over the country on Saturday. Many carried Serbian flags and signs with the name of their town.

Serbia has been shaken by the strongest protests since the 1990s for more than half a year. The trigger was the collapse of the canopy at the Novi Sad train station last November, which killed 16 people," writes dpa.

It adds that the authorities are under strong pressure. Students accuse the authorities of violence, claiming that they could have resolved the political crisis by calling elections.

The public service ARD, in an agency report on its portal, reminds that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been "steering the country since 2012, changing positions".

"He controls the media, as well as the judiciary and the police. Opposition members are demonized in the media, state institutions intimidate them, and thugs attack them.

Lately, Vučić has intensified pressure on the protest movement. Participants and sympathizers are arrested on dubious pretexts, and university employees have had their salaries drastically reduced," writes ARD.

Similar reports were published by other major portals, such as the weekly magazines Zeit, Spiegel, and Stern, and the daily newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Welt.

In an article about the Vidovdan rally, the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung states on its portal that the "front between the Serbian authorities and the demonstrating students has been further sharpened".

It reminds that the students have promised "civil disobedience," which Süddeutsche Zeitung assesses as a "new strategy to achieve early parliamentary elections".

The Swiss public service SRF recalls the symbolism of Vidovdan: "It is a religious day of remembrance of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, a symbol of Serbian identity and resistance."

The next regular elections are not due for another two years, writes SRF, concluding: "However, the ongoing protests show that many Serbs do not want to wait that long."