The march from the capital Belgrade to the northern city of Novi Sad is part of the demonstrations launched by university students across Serbia to demand accountability for the deaths of 15 people in a train station awning collapse last November.
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Protesting university students in Serbia have embarked on an 80-kilometre march from Belgrade to Novi Sad on Thursday, with plans to participate in a 24-hour blockade of bridges in the northern Serbian city and regional capital once there.
The demonstrations, which will take place on Saturday, are a continuation of a series of protests over a deadly train station awning collapse in November that killed 15 people.
The student protests — the largest in Serbia in decades — continue to mount a challenge to the Western Balkan country's President Aleksandar Vučić.
Weeks-long protests have forced the resignation of Serbia's Prime Minister Miloš Vučević earlier this week and further concessions from the authorities. However, the students do not believe their demands have been fully met.
“This march is our way to show support for our colleagues from Novi Sad” in their blockades, said Tatjana Gogić, a biology student.
“We want also to show how persistent we are and that we do not plan to stop any time soon unless our demands are fulfilled.”
“We are asking for justice," Vasilije Milanović, a student at Belgrade's Faculty of Technical Engineering, said. “We are not stopping this and we are going to pursue this to the end."
The tragedy in Novi Sad has become a flashpoint reflecting wider discontent in Serbia with the rule of Vučić's right-wing populist government.
Demonstrators believe that the awning at the train station collapsed because of a sloppy job during reconstruction, poor oversight and disrespect of safety regulations, all caused by corruption in infrastructure projects with Chinese companies.
At a press conference on Monday, Vučić urged dialogue with the students, saying that “we need to lower the tensions and start talking to each other.”
“Any kind of a crisis poses a serious problem for our economy,” said Vučić. “Such a situation in society is not good for anyone.”