Serbian students rally again over deadly train station awning collapse

Serbia’s striking university students on Wednesday rallied outside the chief prosecutor’s office to demand justice over a train station awning collapse that killed 15 people last month in the country’s northern province.

More than 1,000 students symbolically left letters on the doorstep of the public prosecutor’s office, telling chief prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac that “students expect you to fight for law and justice, without political abuse or corruption.”

Dolovac’s office later responded with a statement inviting a student delegation to a meeting.

Serbia’s universities have been blockaded for weeks as part of a broader movement demanding accountability over the 1 November tragedy in the region of Vojvodina’s capital of Novi Sad when a massive concrete awning at the railway station crashed onto the people below.

Many in Serbia blame the collapse on widespread corruption and sloppy work on the building renovation, one of several infrastructure megaprojects involving Chinese state companies that are now under question.

Prosecutors have arrested 13 people over the Novi Sad tragedy, including a government minister whose release later fueled public scepticism about the sincerity of the investigation.

Striking students in Serbia have received wide support from their professors, farmers, actors, and others. Tens of thousands joined a student-led protest in Belgrade on Sunday, which also reflected wider discontent with populist President Aleksandar Vučić’s rule.

Protesting students on Wednesday carried banners featuring red handprints — a protest symbol telling the authorities they have “blood on their hands”.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the student strikes, Vučić has been advertising what he describes as “favourable” loans for young people to purchase apartments.

The Serbian leader has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms despite formally pursuing European Union membership for the Western Balkan nation, while maintaining close ties to Russia and China.

Additional sources • AP