The announcement of Serbia's prime minister's resignation on Tuesday, January 28, has not calmed historic anti-corruption student protests that have been rocking the Balkan country for three months. On Tuesday evening, thousands of students were still marching in several major Serbian cities, including Novi Sad. In this city, which is one of the epicenters of the protests, demonstrators were particularly angry at the news that a student had been beaten up by thugs from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

Named Ana, the student was putting up stickers calling for a protest on Monday evening when men armed with baseball bats came out of the local SNS offices to attack her group. She was hospitalized with a dislocated jaw. Serbian police announced that they had arrested the four alleged assailants. In a speech on Tuesday evening, President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed that they were members of his party, calling the act "scandalous."

On Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Milos Vucevic also spoke of "unacceptable" violence before announcing his resignation. But the president's loyal follower is seen above all as a fuse, Vucic having been the real strongman of this country of 6.6 million since 2012. "The government is trying to manipulate people with actions that don't really mean anything," said Aleksa Markovic, a dental student in Belgrade and an active member of the protest movement, which is now affecting all the country's universities.

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