site.btaTens of Thousands Fill Streets of Belgrade and Novi Sad in Honor of Victims of Collapsed Train Station Canopy Incident

Tens of thousands of citizens filled the streets of the Serbian capital Belgrade on Monday night in memory of the 16 people who died on November 1, 2024, in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad.

The Novi Sad train station canopy collapse incident ten months ago sparked mass anti-government protests in Serbia and blockades of secondary and higher education institutions.

The memorial procession in Belgrade passed without the chanting of slogans, there were no flags. The rally was guarded by police along the pre-announced route. The protesters approached Pioneers Park in the centre of the Serbian capital, where tents of supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic are located. Tension briefly arose between the two groups of citizens, but no clashes broke out.

A memorial event under the motto We Will not Forget and We Will not Surrender was also organized on Monday night on the University of Novi Sad campus, where the names of the 16 people who died in the incident were read out.

The event, like the gathering in Belgrade, passed without incidents. Farmers who supported anti-government demonstrations before, joined the protesters in Novi Sad.

The initiative for the protest marches came from high school students in Serbia, who last fall also blocked classes, following the example of university students who took control of faculty buildings.

At the end of the year, in order to discontinue 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.

On Monday night, at the front line of the memorial 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. University students blocked over 60 faculties in Serbia and led spontaneous protests, accusing the government and President Aleksandar Vucic of corruption and nepotism in the three-year reconstruction of the railway station with the participation of Chinese companies.

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. Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested.

In May, protesters demanded early parliamentary elections. On June 28, several thousand people protested in Belgrade, giving the government an ultimatum to propose to the president to schedule parliamentary elections by 9 p.m. local time, but the ultimatum was rejected. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic declared that counter-protesting students who want to study and are against the blockades of faculties won.

The case involving the deaths caused by the collapsed canopy in Novi Sad has not yet reached court, as the investigation, which includes two former ministers, is still ongoing.