Serbian student activists rise after country’s tragedy
Tens of thousands of protestors flooded onto the roads leading up to Novi Sad railway station on Nov. 1. According to the BBC, this event was held to remember the people killed when the railway station collapsed last year, killing 16 people.
Serbian protesters gathered for 16 minutes of silence, one for each victim killed in the tragedy. After the silence, family members laid flowers in front of the station.
The collapse of the train station, which stood for the country’s symbol of progress, sparked citizens to take to the streets, protesting against the corruption of the government.
The BBC states that due to the distrust for both political parties in Serbia, student activists have risen to take their place in calling for change.
According to the same BBC article, a student activist expresses how the people trust student activists more than political parties in the country.
“We are the most trusted group in the country,” Aleksa, a 23-year-old management student at Novi Sad University, told the BBC. “That’s why, even though we have made mistakes, people believe in us.”
Iranians protest against mass executions
“No to Execution Tuesdays” is a weekly hunger strike by prisoners in Iranian prisons, which started in 2024, according to Iran HRM. The movement has called for stopping the increasing executions.
Heba Morayef, regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that Iran is using executions to punish political dissent.
“The ongoing escalation of executions in Iran has reached horrific proportions as the Iranian authorities continue to systematically weaponize the death penalty as a tool of repression and to quash dissent while displaying a chilling assault on the right to life,” Morayef told Amnesty International.
According to the National Council of Resistance of the in-prison hunger strikes led to public outcry in October, as families of prisoners held protests outside government offices. A, protesters rallied peacefully outside of Tehran’s Baharestan Square on October 19th, holding various signs and pictures of imprisoned family members.
However, these peaceful demonstrations have created violent clashes with the government. Officers used batons and excessive force to disperse the crowd. Despite the crackdown, the majority of the protesters stood their ground and continued to shout “No to executions!”
Morocco Gen Z protest against government corruption
Gen Z is taking to the streets in Morocco to protest against government corruption. According to a PBS news article, with over half of the country’s population under 35, youth activists are using social media apps, including Discord, to organize protests.
According to the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, protesters are fueled by anger over the billions of dirhams being spent on new stadiums for the 2030 World Cup, while roads remain unpaved, hospitals lack doctors, and schools remain underfunded.
According to Associated Press, protesters have called for complete, total reforms rather than incremental ones.
“There is no hope,” Youssef, a 27-year-old engineer, told the AP, “I not only want health and education reforms, I want a whole system reform.”
The protests have advocated for an increase in funds allocated to people rather than an international appeal to foreigners.
In response to this, protesters have taken to the streets with some slogans reading “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
According to the same AP article, in response to public demonstrations, the Moroccan authorities have arrested protesters en masse. Moroccan courts have also handed down numerous convictions ranging from four to 20 years of imprisonment for vandalism and incitement.