Tens of thousands of citizens filled the streets of the Serbian capital Belgrade tonight in memory of the 16 people who died on November 1 last year in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, BTA reported.
The protest is on the occasion of the tenth month since the collapse of the canopy of the Novi Sad railway station, an incident that sparked mass anti-government protests in Serbia and blockades of secondary and higher education institutions.
The commemorative procession in Belgrade passed without chants and without flags, and was guarded by police the entire time. According to a previously announced route, the crowd approached the Pioneer Park in the center of the Serbian capital, where the tents of supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic are located. There was brief tension between the two groups of citizens, but no clashes occurred.
A memorial event was also held that evening on the campus of the University of Novi Sad, where the names of the 16 people who died last year were read out.
“We will not forget and we will not surrender“ was the motto of the event, which, like in Belgrade, passed without incident. The protesters in Novi Sad were joined by farmers who have previously supported anti-government demonstrations.
The initiative for tonight's protest marches came from high school students in Serbia, who also blocked classes last fall, following the example of students who took control of faculty buildings.
At the end of 2024, in order to end the blockades in high schools, the government introduced a longer winter vacation and refused to pay salaries to teachers who did not come to classes and supported the blockades.
Tonight, at the front line of the commemorative march in Belgrade, protesters carried a banner reading "High school students remember".
After the tragedy in Novi Sad last year, a wave of social discontent swept the entire country. Students have blocked over 60 faculties in Serbia and led spontaneous protests, accusing the government and President Aleksandar Vucic of corruption and nepotism in the reconstruction of the railway station, which took three years with the participation of Chinese companies.
The authorities reject the accusations and claim that opposition parties and foreign funding are at the heart of the protests, not ordinary citizens.
The protests in August, which erupted with renewed force, resulted in clashes between protesters and police, as well as hundreds of demonstrators being arrested.
In May of this year, protesters first raised a demand for early parliamentary elections, and at a protest of thousands in Belgrade on June 28, they set an ultimatum for the government to propose to the president to call a new vote for members of the National Assembly by 9:00 p.m. local time, but the ultimatum was rejected. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that the counter-protesting students who want to study and are against the blockades of the faculties have won.
The case of the deaths of the 16 people and the collapsed canopy in Novi Sad has not yet reached the courtroom, as the investigation, including against two former ministers, continues.