Nis SNS rally: pot banging, crowd estimates 3,000-19,000

The Kreni-Promeni movement urged Nis residents to bang pots from their windows and balconies on Wednesday, October 21, at 6 p.m., when the closing rally of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) began on King Milan Square. After the rally, Dragan Milic, president of the Movement for the Decentralization of Serbia (PODES), estimated that 3,000 to 4,000 people were on the square, while the Public Rallies Archive published an estimate of about 19,000. The reports we reviewed contain no response from the SNS or the City of Nis to the pot-banging call, or to Milic’s claims.

What did the movement tell the people of Nis?

The call was published in a statement. Kreni-Promeni said citizens could join the action peacefully, so that their voice would be heard from their homes as well. The statement reads:

“Let them hear tonight how Nis will vote on Sunday! Let’s ring them out, tonight and on October 25. Let this be the farewell rally of the Serbian Progressive Party in Nis, and in Serbia too.”

In the same statement the movement asked citizens to pass the call on to neighbors, friends and family, adding: “Tonight at 6 p.m., pots and wooden spoons in hand, let Nis ring.” The reports contain no figure on how many residents actually banged pots.

The rally of the “United Serbia” list, headed by Aleksandar Vucic, began a little after 6 p.m. Former Serbian president Tomislav Nikolic addressed the crowd first, followed by Milorad Dodik, the former president of Republika Srpska, and Vucic. We covered what Vucic promised that day on October 21, in the piece “Vucic in Nis: 20 factories for the south and a government of 12 ministers”.

Where did students invite Nis residents instead of the square?

Students in blockade at the University of Nis called on citizens to ignore the rally and visit three Student List stands. The first was on Saint Pantelejmon Boulevard near Maxi, the second on the plateau by the Puppet Theater, and the third at the roundabout near Dusanov Bazaar. At the stands they announced a presentation of the list’s program and conversations with parliamentary candidates. The students’ message to citizens was: “Come to our stands.”

The students also said that, ahead of the rally, the SNS covered with Serbian flags the plaques bearing the names of the 16 victims of the Novi Sad canopy collapse. The plaques were placed last year on 16 planters with trees in central Nis, in memory of the victims. The students said:

“First they killed them with their corruption, and now they are trying to hide their bloody hands by covering their names with the flags of our country, Serbia.”

The sources we reviewed do not include an SNS response to this claim.

Why was the stage on the square not removed?

On October 20, municipal inspectors of the Medijana municipality ordered the SNS City Board to remove the stage on King Milan Square within one hour. The reasoning was that no request had been filed to occupy public space and no permit had been obtained for the stage. The stage was not removed, and grandstands with chairs also remained on the square.

Medijana says the city communal police refused to help its inspectors, just as, it claims, they refused earlier when SNS stands set up without a permit in central Nis had to be removed. The preparations also included a large number of tents with food and drink counters. Traffic in the center was suspended from 8 a.m. on October 20 until 8 p.m. on October 22, and only buses bringing SNS members and supporters were allowed along Heroja sa Pastrika Street.

How do the two crowd estimates differ?

Milic wrote on X: “A total debacle and fiasco of the SNS farewell rally in Nis!” He said tents and pallets reduced the area of the central square by about 50 percent and that even that space was not full, estimating 3,000 to 4,000 people, including those who, he claims, were brought to Nis in an organized way. He then posted a video in which residents of a high-rise on Medijana’s territory can be heard whistling and banging pots, and ended his message with the words: “Shoo out of Nis!”

The Public Rallies Archive, which describes itself as an informal organization, said about 19,000 people attended the rally. On social media it said the figure was reached by calculating the area of the rally and the average density of people, based on a drone recording made at 6:25 p.m., 25 minutes after the scheduled start.

The two estimates differ by a factor of five to six, and neither is official. The reports we reviewed do not give a crowd figure from the SNS or the police.

What happened in Nis at earlier elections?

In the 2024 local elections, according to the City Election Commission’s decision, the coalition around the SNS won fewer votes than the opposition in Nis, but formed the government with the help of one councilor from the Russian Party. The Medijana municipality, where King Milan Square is located, gave the opposition 45 percent more votes than the coalition around the SNS. Nis residents vote on Sunday, October 25.