Protests over prepare station collapse grip Serbia, demand authorities motion | Corruption Information

College students march in Serbia, in search of justice for prepare station victims and accountability for corruption and nepotism.

Tens of hundreds of scholars have descended in town of Kragujevac in central Serbia, the newest in a sequence of protests to rock the Balkan nation after the lethal collapse of a prepare station roof final 12 months.

Fifteen folks have been killed have been killed on November 1 when a roof collapsed at a prepare station within the metropolis of Novi Unhappy, fuelling longstanding anger over corruption and nepotism.

Since then, mass demonstrations have grown into Serbia’s largest protest motion in years and symbolize a menace to populist President Aleksandar Vucic’s decade-long grip on energy.

In near-freezing temperatures, college students arrived in Kragujevac from throughout Serbia by bus and even on foot, beating drums, blowing whistles, and holding up the nation’s flag.

The protesters deliberate to dam one of many metropolis’s essential boulevards for 15 hours and quarter-hour, in a tribute to the prepare station victims. In addition they held quarter-hour of silence.

“We’re right here to struggle for a greater tomorrow, in opposition to corruption,” mentioned 20-year-old Jovan, who drove from the capital Belgrade.

Pupil protestors have loved broad assist from Serbia’s public, a lot of whom blame the Novi Unhappy tragedy on corruption and nepotism inside Vucic’s authorities, allegations authorities deny.

Verica, a 52-year-old professor from town, joined the protest together with her teenage daughter.

“I’ve not been so glad and proud for a very long time,” she mentioned. “I’m happy with their persistence.”

College students demand change

The college student-led motion has put rising stress on Serbia’s authorities, spurring the resignation of a number of high-ranking officers, together with Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on the finish of January.

Elsewhere, 13 folks have been charged over the prepare station catastrophe. However this has achieved little to quell the demonstrations.

Because the accident, college students have staged day by day protests, taking up college buildings and blocking highways and squares.

“We’ll keep right here till the blockade ends,” mentioned Djordje Vujovic, 22, a mechanical engineering pupil.

The scholars are demanding that authorities publish paperwork regarding the station roof collapse. In addition they need justice for these accountable, the dismissal of fees in opposition to protesting college students, and a larger funds for increased training.

Ivan and Ivana, 23-year-old arithmetic college students, have been amongst a gaggle of about 400 individuals who had walked for 4 days to succeed in Kragujevac from Belgrade.

“We needed to indicate the folks dwelling within the nation that we assist them,” Ivan mentioned. “We don’t assume solely in regards to the folks in Belgrade.”