Newsletter Newsletters Events Events Podcasts Videos Africanews
Loader
Advertisement

Serbian students rally against government, refute claims of Western funding

Protesters hold a banner reading ‘Students to the blockades, workers to strike’ outside the state television building in Belgrade, 12 December, 2024
Protesters hold a banner reading ‘Students to the blockades, workers to strike’ outside the state television building in Belgrade, 12 December, 2024 Copyright  Marko Drobnjakovic/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved
Copyright Marko Drobnjakovic/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved
By Euronews with AP
Published on Updated
Share this article Comments
Share this article Close Button
Copy/paste the article video embed link below: Copy to clipboard Copied

The protests initially erupted last month after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad killing 15 people.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hundreds of protesters led by university students have staged a rally outside Serbia's state television headquarters in Belgrade as the wave of demonstrations against the populist government headed by President Aleksandar Vučić continues to grow.

The protests initially erupted last month after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad killing 15 people.

Blowing whistles and jeering, the protesters said they are angry that RTS television is carrying Vučić's allegations that the students were paid by the West to hold protests in a bid to overthrow his government.

Classes at more than 40 university faculties throughout Serbia have been suspended for days.

Many in Serbia blame the canopy collapse on rampant corruption in the country that led to sloppy renovation work on the station building in Novi Sad, part of a wider deal with Chinese state companies involved in a number of infrastructure projects in the Balkan country.

The disaster has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with what critics say is Vučić's increasingly authoritarian rule, reflecting public demands for democratic changes.

Almost daily protests have been held since 1 November in Novi Sad, Belgrade and other cities across Serbia, which sometimes turned violent.

Vučić announced at a news conference on Wednesday evening that documentation regarding the renovation of the Novi Sad railway building would be made public, as students have requested.

Rescue service workers inspect the scene after a canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad, 1 November, 2024
Rescue service workers inspect the scene after a canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad, 1 November, 2024 AP Photo

Prosecutors have launched an investigation and detained 13 people.

But one government minister has been released, fuelling widespread speculation over the probe as the ruling Serbian Progressive Party also controls both the police and the judiciary.

As Vučić spoke on Wednesday, hundreds of students also blew whistles and horns outside the presidency building, which could be heard in the live coverage of the address.

The students on Thursday said they also want those who attacked peaceful protesters arrested.

"We came to give back the money," one of the students told the crowd as they symbolically left improvised money bags outside the headquarters of RTS, which has been accused of spreading the nationalist pro-government narrative for years. 

"You can hand them to the president and tell him that we want a public apology."

Go to accessibility shortcuts
Share this article Comments

Read more

Violent protests erupt in Serbia after deadly train station canopy collapse

Thousands of Serbians protest in Novi Sad over fatal rail station awning collapse

European aid flotilla sails to Gaza with four MEPs aboard