BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — They packed up food, water and extra clothes and set off.
Hundreds of Serbian university students on Thursday started an 80-kilometer (50-mile) march toward the northern city of Novi Sad, the latest endeavor in their widening protest movement over a deadly overhang collapse in November that killed 15 people.
The students started from the capital, Belgrade, and plan to arrive in two days in Novi Sad, where a massive blockade of the city bridges over the Danube is planned for Saturday to mark three months since the huge concrete construction at the railway station fell on the people below on Nov. 1.
What started as a protest against suspected corruption in construction contracts has developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country's powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic.
Students were greeted along the way by cheering citizens, honking their car horns or coming out of their homes with offers of refreshments, fruit or pancakes.
Marching for justice
They have been camping at their faculties for the past two months while organizing daily protests, some drawing tens of thousands of people for the largest street gatherings in years in the Balkan country.
“This march is our way of showing support for our colleagues from Novi Sad," said Tatjana Gogic, a biology student. “We want also to show how persistent we are and that we do not plan to stop any time soon unless our demands are fulfilled.”
Vasilije Milanovic, a student at Belgrade’s technical engineering faculty, added that “we are asking for justice and freedom of thought.”
“We are not stopping this and we are going to pursue this to the end,” Milanovic said.
‘This is not the way the state should function’
Weekslong demonstrations have already forced the resignation of Serbia's prime minister Milos Vucevic this week, along with various concessions from authorities unused to making them.
The protests also reflect wider popular discontent in Serbia with Vucic's increasingly authoritarian rule. The president and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have imposed a firm grip on all state institutions and mainstream media while facing accusations of stifling democratic freedoms, despite promises to lead Serbia into the European Union.
Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies. Critics believe graft has led to a sloppy job during reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations.
“We must no longer allow such chaos in our society, such despotism that one man is making all the decisions,” said Dusan Pavlovic, who graduated in acting from Belgrade's drama academy. “That was not what we agreed. That is not the way the state should function.”
Protests have spread like a tide
The immediate cause for the student strike was an attack on drama students on Jan. 24 by pro-government thugs during a daily 15-minute commemoration for the victims of the overhang collapse. A call for the perpetrators to be punished soon spread to all universities in Serbia.
The students succeeded where previous waves of protesters had fizzled out or failed, said Aleksandar Baucal, a psychology professor at Belgrade’s Faculty of Philosophy. “No one else would have been able to gain trust of such a wide circle of people," he said.
The students' demands for the rule of law and accountability, their empathy for the victims, along with resilience and readiness for sacrifice to achieve justice, struck a chord in a nation used to perpetual crisis, Baucal said.
“We could all easily identify because we have all experienced many times in our lives that the laws have not been respected and that it was our loss,” said Baucal. “People trust the students when they have lost trust in everyone else.”
Vucic has shifted from accusing the students of working with foreign powers to oust him, to offering concessions or issuing veiled threats. Pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked the students, twice ramming cars into protests. A female student was beaten with baseball bats this week, but the protesters are undeterred.
The students have no leaders and the media are not allowed inside the blockaded faculty buildings. All the decisions are taken in so-called “plenary sessions” where students vote on any proposals or decisions.
Their strength and determination have caught many by surprise in a country where hundreds of thousands of young people have emigrated, looking for opportunities elsewhere.
“They showed us all that they are very much interested in the world around them,” said Baucal. “They rightfully had waited first for the older generations, who created social problems, to solve them so they (students) wouldn’t have to. All they wanted from us was to respect the laws we set up ourselves.”
Jovana Gec And Ivana Bzganovic, The Associated Press
