Vucic orders SNS activists to leave Slavija, end of 'Ciaciland'
Speaking from Beijing, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic ordered SNS activists to leave the camp near Pionirski Park; the tent is to be dismantled tomorrow at first light.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on May 25, late in the evening Beijing time, issued an order to the Serbian Progressive Party activists who had been gathered at the camp by Pionirski Park since the start of March to leave the location and end the four-metre tent that in Belgrade became known as “Ciaciland.” The order came three days after the May 23 protest at Slavija, where in clashes about half an hour after the end of the rally more than twenty people were arrested. Vucic told reporters in Beijing that “the atmosphere in Serbia is such that it is time for the activists to return to their municipalities and continue normal work.”
The tent, which became a symbol of SNS activist presence in central Belgrade, had been operating since the first days of March 2026, in response to the student blockades at the faculties. It housed activists from outside Belgrade, who were given daily hot meals and transport from their municipalities. Belgrade lawyers and sociologists estimated over the past two weeks that between 800 and 1,200 people stayed at Ciaciland daily, on a three-to-four-day rotation. According to a source within SNS, after Vucic’s order the withdrawal from Slavija is expected at first light on Wednesday May 27.
How the opposition and the student plenum reacted
From the student plenum, which met Tuesday evening at the Faculty of Philosophy, the first response was guarded. A plenum spokesperson, who under the rotating-mandate rule was one of ten alternating media interlocutors, said that “if Ciaciland is genuinely dismantled tomorrow morning, this is the first concrete outcome of the Slavija protest.” From the Party of Freedom and Justice, Marinika Tepic in a brief comment to Insajder said “concrete moves would also have to clear up the substance of the violence,” a reference to the arrests at Slavija.
From the Movement of Free Citizens, Pavle Grbovic told N1 that “Ciaciland for Belgrade’s public has been a symbol of the non-standard political presence of the ruling party in the public space,” and that “its dismantling should be read as an apology, not a tactical move.” From the People’s Movement of Serbia, Miroslav Aleksic added that after Ciaciland “the logical next step would be a concrete move in the judicial process against persons linked to the Senjak case.” From the Democratic Party, parliamentary group leader Djordje Stankovic said that “Ciaciland was an obstacle to the opposition’s normal communication with Belgrade’s public.”
What next, and who will physically dismantle the tent?
According to the City of Belgrade Secretariat for Communal Affairs, dismantling of the tent on Wednesday May 27 from 6 a.m. will involve 24 city sanitation workers with logistical support from the Centre for Accommodation and Rehabilitation. The tent will be dismantled into sections and taken to a warehouse in Zeleznik, with the intention not to dismantle it completely. After Ciaciland, the site near Pionirski Park will return to its standard function as a public park with children’s equipment.
Politically, the SNS activists’ withdrawal from Slavija has an indirect effect on the dynamics between the ruling side and the opposition ahead of parliamentary elections that, by Vucic’s latest signal, may come in autumn 2026. If they are held in October or November, the time window recently floated at the SNS leadership meeting, the dismantling of Ciaciland could be read as a tactical preparation for an election campaign in which SNS will try to present itself as a party that limited its public presence by removing the markers it is now taking down. According to the Institute for Democracy Serbia, dismantling Ciaciland is in practice “a step back” for a party that had drawn a significant share of political visibility from its public presence.
A source near Vucic, from the SNS leadership, who agreed to speak without being named, said that “the president’s statement on a possible resignation and the order to dismantle Ciaciland should be viewed together” and that in Beijing Vucic “in the last twenty-four hours has taken a series of decisions that will have serious consequences for the Belgrade political scene.” Concrete decisions are expected after Vucic’s return to Serbia on May 28, with a press conference at the Presidency already announced for Friday May 29 at 11 a.m.
