Student marches, traffic blockades in Serbia as protests persist over concrete canopy fall

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian university students left piles of old school books outside the education ministry building on Friday as part of almost daily street protests demanding accountability over the collapse nearly two months ago of a concrete canopy that killed 15 people in the country's north.

Scattered traffic blockades were also held on various locations throughout Serbia at 11:52 a.m. — the exact time that the concrete construction on the front of the railway station building in Novi Sad crashed onto the people below. The traffic blockades have been held every Friday since the Nov. 1 crash, lasting 15 minutes for the 15 victims.

Many in Serbia blame the collapse on widespread corruption and sloppy work on the railway station building in the city of Novi Sad that was twice renovated in recent years as part of questionable mega projects involving Chinese state companies.

Persistent protests in Serbia reflect widespread anger at the accident but also wider discontent with the rule of populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his government. Tens of thousands joined a big rally last Sunday in Belgrade led by the university students.

Prosecutors have arrested 13 people over the Novi Sad tragedy, including a government minister whose release later fueled public skepticism about the honesty of the investigation.

Striking university students have garnered support from various walks of life, challenging the tight grip on power of Vucic's government. The movement's symbol — a red handprint telling authorities they have blood on their hands — has been used by actors, farmers and others backing the protests.

In Belgrade, more than 2,000 students marched to the education ministry. A speaker told the crowd that “we are sick of being called political mercenaries and attacked in the streets.”

In Novi Sad, a student rally criticized the way the state-run RT Vojvodina reports about the protests and the canopy collapse.

Populist officials and the pro-government mainstream media have described the protests as a ‘hybrid war’ against Vucic under the orders of foreign intelligence services. Though Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, Vucic has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them.

University students in neighboring Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, and the northwestern town of Banja Luka on Friday gathered in support of their Serbian colleagues and to draw attention to problems in their own country.

Good Friday is a unique — and uniquely solemn — day in the Christian calendar.

It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, ahead of what’s a central tenet of faith for believers — his resurrection two days later on Easter Sunday, according to the Gospels.

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