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17-03-2025
BELGRADE: Hundreds of thousands of people descended on Serbia’s capital on Saturday to protest over the deaths of 15 people in a railway station collapse.
While the government put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade, an independent monitor said 325,000, if not more had gathered, making it Serbia’s largest protest ever.
The Novi Sad collapse last November has galvanized anger towards the government and President Aleksandar Vucic. Demonstrators blame corruption and corner-cutting for the loss of life.
They believe the disaster reflects more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic who closely associated himself with the station’s recent renovation.
President Vucic addressed the nation on Saturday and praised the police, adding that he was proud that “we managed to preserve the peace”.
He added that he “understood” the protesters’ message, and said “we will have to change ourselves”.
Despite multiple resignations – and Vucic’s insistence that he is going nowhere, the protests have only continued to grow.
“We just want a country that works,” law student Jana Vasic told media in the growing crowd in Belgrade.
“We want institutions that do their jobs properly. We don’t care what party is in power but we need a country that works, not one where you don’t get justice for more than four months.”
Republic Square just one of the four meeting points around Serbia’s capital for the “15th for 15” protest was full to overflowing on Saturday.
Some took refuge on the plinth of Prince Mihajlo’s statue, the traditional spot for Belgraders to meet, the equivalent of Eros in London’s Piccadilly.
Others queued up along the road in front of the National Museum, stretching all the way back to Students’ Square.
The other meeting points were every bit as crowded ahead of the planned rendezvous in front of the National Assembly.
The Public Meeting Archive said 275,000-325,000 had attended the protest “with the possibility that the number was even higher”.
“Due to the extraordinary size, dynamic nature and structure of the assembly, as well as the unclear situation in some parts of the city… a more precise assessment is not possible,” it added. Serbian media reports 22 people were arrested and 56 others injured.
While the protests over the Novi Sad collapse began with students, they have been joined by taxi drivers, farmers and lawyers.
Ahead of the big protest, motorbike riders pulled up outside the National Assembly, facing off against the tractors surrounding a camp of pro-government counter-protesters.
Then a parade of military veterans received a rousing welcome. They said they would make a citizen’s arrest on anyone who attacked the students.
The students have been calling for full transparency and accountability over the collapse of a concrete and glass canopy at the station in Serbia’s second city, which was renovated and only reopened by Vucic in 2022. They want the government to publish all the documentation relating to the renovation project and say they are not satisfied with the papers the authorities have released so far.
They also want those responsible for the disaster to be charged and convicted. Prosecutors have indicted at least 16 people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic. (Int’l News Desk)
