Student-led movement continues to demand political change as embattled president issues rare apology
Tens of thousands of Serbians have gathered to commemorate victims of a fatal railway station collapse a year ago, a tragedy that galvanised anti-government sentiment that still threatens the embattled president, Aleksandar Vučić.
A student-led movement organised the rallies in the country’s second largest city Novi Sad, where on 1 November 2024, the canopy at the newly renovated railway station collapsed.
Saturday’s commemorative rally started at 11:52am, the exact time when the roof fell, with 16 minutes of silence observed for the 16 people who died. People placed flowers and candles along temporary fencing near the damaged station entrance, as thousands more packed into the square.
The disaster inspired Serbia’s largest youth-led movement since the fall of Slobodan Milošević, a hardline leader who died in 2006 of a heart attack while he was being tried on 66 counts of crimes against humanity, including genocide.
