“Celo Vranje” played at students’ welcome in Vranje as Aleksandar Vučić resigned

In Vranje the crowd repeatedly played the song "Celo Vranje" when they welcomed students who are cycling across Serbia as part of the tour "Guardians of the Constitution", a ten‑day trip that began on 17 September ahead of the snap parliamentary elections on 25 October. The riders — students who have organised sustained protests since the collapse at the Novi Sad railway station — were met with music, torches and local residents.

Supporters of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) were also present nearby; the two groups were separated by a police cordon. Among the melodies heard more than once at the reception was "Celo Vranje", a song that has become an unofficial anthem of the town in southern Serbia.

Origins of the local hit

The tune began as a Serbian rendition of Blagica Pavlovska's original "Celo Skopje". According to long‑time Vranje radio editor and host Nebojša Dimčić, the song was first performed in 1995 during a live broadcast of the joint Radio Vranje–Radio Gnjilane programme "Turbo Weekend". Pavlovska brought a Serbian version titled "Celo Vranje" as a gesture to the hosts and listeners; the studio played it repeatedly during the five‑hour show and listeners phoned in asking for it to be aired again.

Although only a demo was played on the radio at first, local musicians recorded it from air onto audio cassettes, worked out the chords and soon started performing it at weddings and celebrations. Because of its popularity, Pavlovska later recorded and released "Celo Vranje" on an album in 1998.

The student movement that organised the cycling tour started after the collapse of the concrete canopy at the Novi Sad railway station on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people. Students demanded publication of all reconstruction documentation and accountability for the tragedy; their protests broadened into a wider anti‑corruption movement and one of their demands became the calling of snap parliamentary elections.

The Student List "Students Win" was approved to run on 25 October after submitting 69.099 legally valid signatures to the Republic Electoral Commission; the top candidate is Ilija Srdanović, a professor at the Medical Faculty in Novi Sad. On the ballot is also the list "Aleksandar Vučić — United Serbia", led by Aleksandar Vučić and by a coalition of pro‑Western opposition parties known as "European Serbia".

Separately, Aleksandar Vučić resigned from the presidency after nine years in order to run in the campaign for the 25 October snap parliamentary elections; Ana Brnabić assumed the acting presidential duties.

Photo: N1)