The main thing I've heard online is that it's a pro-europe movement, particularly in support or rearming the EU, particularly in response to current US actions.

I was speaking to an Italian guy at the pub on the weekend and he said that's totally wrong and it's just protesting general government corruption. I don't know if he's more credible than the internet, being Italian is a big plus but being a man at the pub means it's likely wrong. Maybe there are protests for both.

he reckoned to add the cities population of 1.5 M to the tally.

That would mean 90% of Belgrade was in the streets that day. As intense the popular support of the protests is, that number is surely a strech. 800k is already quite mind-boggling by the standards of the country... actually, by the standards of any country.

Edit: "The number of protesters present in Belgrade at the protest is disputed: the official government figure provided by MUP was 107,000, an analysis by the Archive of Public Meetings found there were between 275,000 and 325,000 present "with the possibility that the number was even higher,"[499] and Božo Prelević [sr], the former MUP minister, estimated there were at least half a million protesters.[500]" (Wikipedia)

The Reuters number was simply taken from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), which obviously preferred to keep the number low.

The revolution will not be televised.

Thank you for posting this. I'm so sick of ignorant people outside my country (US) spouting nonsense about nothing happening here.

These people are almost as bad as the US conservatives when it comes to believing only what they see on their news.

Actual bravo.

If we had shitty rewards, I'd give you a Lemmy Latinum.

That's... kind of sad. There's like dozens of people in those pictures. Honestly, no surprise media doesn't report it, I've seen barbecues with higher attendance. Americans need to do a lot better.

Better to simply call them "the states", because unity evaporated a while ago.

As a Canadian, No I definitely mean 'murica.

Serbia also only has about 20% more inhabitants than Wisconsin. 🙂

I feel this is a lack oft creativity. Protests need to be peaceful, but disruptive. In a car based society, protest by car? If 5,000,000 cars "meet up" in any given metropolitan area, that areas productivity goes to zero, those in power won't even have any recourse, there aren't enough police/towtrucks to counter this, and if so it would take days or weeks. Only coordinated driving and parking/traffic jam required.

Effective protest should instill fear in those in power - the message is, with the sheer number of people right outside your building, could easily crush you if they so choose. A few guards can not offer protection in this case. The idea is, with this realization, that violence is not a good escalation, as in the end the powerful few will never come out on top.

This only works if the powerful few actually believe the masses will go as far as needed to effect the demanded change.

From outside, it appears the US protests favor comfort over conflict, thus are viewed as lacking credibility and therefore, pose no danger to the power class. As long as the individual prioritizes their selves before acting as a collective, including taking the risk of collective punishment, the protest remains unbelievable, therefore ineffective and easily ignored.

Serbia has like a quarter population of NYC.

I don't know why there aren't any mass protests in the US, but that ain't it.