site.btaSerbian Cities Hold Vigils 11 Months After Novi Sad Railway Tragedy

Thousands gathered with mobile phone torches in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac and other Serbian cities on Wednesday to silently mark 11 months since the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse that killed 16 and seriously injured one.

Commemorative gatherings took the form of marches along pre-announced routes.

Across Serbia people observed 16 minutes of silence in memory of the victims eight minutes before midnight.

In Novi Sad, mourners paid their respects at the railway station where the tragedy took place.

A kilometre-long column of citizens, including many students, set off in Belgrade from Prokop railway station, crossed the Gazela bridge, and continued to the station in the New Belgrade borough. The second march started from the Zemun borough.

In both Belgrade and Novi Sad, protesters carried white roses.

“I do not know how it is not understood that we want early elections because we have no confidence in those in power. Does it not strike you that politicians control the judicial system? Otherwise, there should already have been convictions, but the trial has not even started,” student Marko Jovic told BTA.

“I believe we will succeed in rebuilding Serbian society. After this tragedy, which claimed 16 lives, there is no place for political cynicism, corruption, and silent sweeping of problems under the rug,” student Milica Gordanovic told BTA.

Marches in Nis, Kragujevac, and Cacak took place peacefully, without chanting.

Student-led anti-government protests have continued in Serbia since November 2024, calling for the authorities to be held responsible for the Novi Sad incident. In May, students demanded early elections, and over the summer, otherwise mostly peaceful demonstrations escalated into clashes with police, disturbances, and mass arrests.

The demonstrations have become the greatest challenge to the political career of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Protesters cite corrupt practices in government and a carelessly executed railway station reconstruction as causes for the collapse.

The tragic incident on November 1, 2024, occurred four months after the grand opening of the renovated facility.

Meanwhile, the first hearing of former Serbian construction minister Goran Vesic before the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime was scheduled for November 17, more than a year after the event.

Vesic and 13 others are accused of causing USD 115 million in damages to the national budget during construction of the high-speed railway from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border.

The prosecution said it received medical expert conclusions stating that Vesic’s current health condition is a “temporary circumstance” that prevents him from participating in proceedings, at least until the end of the first week of November.

The former transport minister, who resigned a few days after the collapse at Novi Sad station, has yet to be questioned as he is still undergoing treatment.

He was admitted to a private hospital on the last day of July with abdominal problems, just before an arrest order over a corruption investigation connected to the high-speed rail project was issued.

The reconstruction of the Novi Sad railway station was part of this project.

In addition to suspicion that Vesic and the other defendants damaged the national budget by USD 115 million, the prosecution alleges that the project caused about $115 million in damage to the state budget and yielded at least $18.7 million in unlawful gain for the CRIC & CCCC consortium, according to regional media citing the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office.

The contract was concluded under a Serbia-China intergovernmental agreement, outside standard public procurement tendering.