A student-led blockade of Serbia’s national broadcaster RTS entered its third day on April 16, as demonstrators continued to decry biased reporting and state media complicity in a deepening political crisis.

Protesters gathered outside the RTS headquarters in Takovska Street and its production studio in Košutnjak, erecting makeshift kitchens and calling for broader participation in what has become the latest flashpoint in months of nationwide unrest.

This is the third day that students have blocked the public service, and police interventions have so far allowed only limited access to the broadcaster’s staff. Early on April 16, police reportedly ushered RTS employees into the building through a nearby kebab shop, resulting in scuffles with students.

The blockade, led by university students, is the latest in a series of protests triggered by the fatal collapse of a railway station roof in Novi Sad last November. What began as a response to that tragedy has since morphed into the largest wave of civil unrest since the 1990s, driven by allegations of systemic corruption under President Aleksandar Vucic.

As protesters accuse RTS and its sister broadcaster RTV of failing to reflect the scale and significance of the protests, frustration has grown. "We have been protesting for five months, RTS and RTV are making shows about penguins and melting glaciers, washing laundry at 90°C and international relations between Burkina Faso and Thailand. People, wake up, you are a delulu," students posted on X, according to local new outlet Danas.

In response, state-aligned media accused the students of obstructing food deliveries to RTS staff, while volunteers from the "Blockade kitchen" initiative began preparing meals for those camped outside the broadcaster’s headquarters.

“It is clear to everyone, rotten public services must be changed, they are the cause of the problem,” students from the Faculty of Technical Sciences said during Wednesday’s demonstration.

Meanwhile, a group of students who began a 1,400-kilometre bicycle journey from Novi Sad to Strasbourg arrived at the European Parliament on April 15, urging EU officials to re-evaluate their support for Vucic’s administration in light of what they allege is democratic backsliding and entrenched graft.

The protests have already claimed a major political casualty. Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in January, bringing down the government. However, the newly proposed cabinet is composed largely of figures from the outgoing administration and critics are sceptical of any meaningful change.

Serbian students and their allies have vowed to maintain pressure until their demands – chiefly, the release of documentation related to the collapse – are met. As they stated early this morning on social networks, there were not enough of them to oppose the police more seriously, so they invited everyone who can get to the RTS building in Takovska to join the blockade.