Though the ongoing protests in Serbia, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, may not be the first demonstrations the nation has seen, they are unique both in their scale and nationwide involvement. As a result, the regime of authoritarian Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, even if it remains in power, will no longer have an absolute hold, said Florian Bieber, an expert on South East Europe.

In an interview with Austria’s national public broadcaster ORF, Bieber said university student protests in Serbia did not seek symbolic political acts like resignations, but rather systemic changes. He added that the lack of identifiable leaders within the university and student protest movement made it less vulnerable to targeted attacks.

At the moment, there is essentially a stalemate between the protesters and the government, Bieber noted, adding that Vucic could no longer be sure of unreserved support from the police, whose members have friends and family among the protesters.

Bieber described the opposition in Serbia as lacking strategic direction and said it had so far reacted “helplessly,” making an election victory for the opposition difficult to imagine, and not only because of limited media freedoms.

Though the outcome of the protests remains uncertain, Bieber believes that Vucic will not be able to reassert unchecked dominance.

The European Union has so far remained silent about the protests, mostly out of political and economic interests. Despite Vucic’s authoritarianism, he is still perceived as a guarantor of stability and is now attempting to play geopolitical actors against each other, Bieber said.