[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The protests were also triggered by many scandals of ruling party members, such as sexual harassment at work, assaults on investigative journalists, a plagiarism scandal, the arrest of whistleblower who uncovered the arms trade that allegedly ended up in the hands of ISIS fighters in Yemen, as well as the smear campaign and the unsolved murder of Kosovo Serb opposition leader Oliver Ivanović.

[19][20] Twitter announced that they shut down the network of 8,500 spam accounts that wrote 43 million tweets – acted in concert to cheerlead for president Vučić and his party and attack his opponent, including those involved in the protests.

The protest resulted in inter-party European Parliament-mediated negotiations, but the largest opposition parties announced a boycott of the coming elections due to lack of press freedom and fair electoral conditions.

The previous series of protests took place in 2017 and were also directed at Vučić and his party, denouncing SNS's perceived domination of the media and voicing concern regarding claims of voter intimidation.

[25][26][27] He was a longtime member of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party, leading to fears that he would "succumb to the temptations of authoritarianism" after his accession to the premiership in 2014.

[27][8] As head of SNS, Vučić however tended to embrace more politically moderate conservative populist and pro-European values, steering government policy toward an eventual entry into the European Union while also maintaining close ties with Russia and China.

[33] Freedom House reported that Serbia's status declined from Free to Partly Free due to deterioration in the conduct of elections, continued attempts by the government and allied media outlets to undermine independent journalists through legal harassment and smear campaigns, and Vučić's accumulation of executive powers that conflict with his constitutional role.

[39] According to research conducted by the Centre for Investigative Journalism, the battle against corruption in practice comes down to media announcements and arrests in front of cameras.

[48] The political background of protesters and organizers is diverse, with both far-left, liberal, moderate, and far-right nationalist factions voicing opposition to the government.

[9][45] Notably, the magazine Foreign Policy argued that demonstrations against Vucic’s authoritarian government won’t achieve anything until the opposition can present a coherent alternative.

[51] The protesters have called for greater press freedom, greater political freedom and plurality, electoral reform, new elections, and more government transparency, and condemned what they perceive as Vučić's increasingly authoritarian tendencies (with manifestations including "hate speech" against opponents, suppression of dissenting voices, and mounting control over the country's media), while also accusing him of creating a climate of fear and violence, and the party he heads of being corrupt.

Tens of thousands of attendants were bused to Belgrade from across Serbia for an event that critics labelled a "popularity stunt" and a purposeful distraction from the protests.

It was also speculated that the reception was an attempt by Vučić to placate and shore up support of conservative pro-Russian sections of the population who are concerned about the pro-European tendencies of the President and his government.

[49][113][29][53] The ceremony was staged at the same location where, just a day prior, tens of thousands of protesters marched for a candlelight vigil to honour the death of Oliver Ivanović, a moderate Serb politician that was assassinated in broad daylight in Kosovo in 2018.