SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Students in Bosnia and Montenegro rallied against corruption Monday, drawing inspiration from their fellow students in neighboring Serbia whose anti-graft protests have shaken the government and given rise to calls for political change across the region.
In the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, students demanded answers over the deaths of 29 people last October, when torrential floods triggered a landslide of rubble from a quarry that was reportedly built illegally.
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Woman cries and shouts during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
A man blows a horn during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People hold banners read: "One world one fight" and "We demand an investigation" during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Woman holds a banner with names of cities and amount of people killed following flash floods and landslides, during a protest, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
A woman wears a T -Shirt with the image of a man who died, during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People take part in a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People take part in a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
In Montenegro, which borders both Bosnia and Serbia, students are seeking the removal of top security officials over two separate mass shootings in less than three years when gunmen killed 23 people, including children.
Student-led strikes and blockades of roads and bridges have paralyzed Serbia following the collapse on Nov. 1 of a railway station canopy that killed 15 people, which critics blamed on government corruption in awarding construction contracts.
Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro were once part of the former Yugoslavia, which broke apart in the 1990s in a devastating series of wars. The new wave of student solidarity illustrates shared grievances in the Balkan nations plagued by graft and complaints of incompetence and mismanagement.
All three countries are seeking European Union entry but have been slow to enact the required reforms.
“As we can see in Serbia, the protests there are effective because they are massive. Other people are joining the students and they are persistent,” said Sarajevo student Sumeja Durakovic.
Gatherings in two other former Yugoslav states, Croatia and Slovenia, have expressed support for the Serbian students. There have also been demonstrations in cities with large populations from the former Yugoslavia, including in the U.S., Canada, Australia and the European Union.
The Serbian protests that were ignited by the canopy collapse in the northern city of Novi Sad have swelled into rage and demands for change that have challenged populist President Aleksandar Vucic, who has ruled Serbia with a tight grip for more than a decade.
In Sarajevo, students held banners reading “Crime without punishment” and chanted “We won’t stop!” as they demanded that those who failed to prevent the disastrous landslide should be held criminally responsible.
“They weren’t killed by the rain or rocks, but by the negligence of the authorities and institutions, which had not acted preventively and with responsibility toward our lives, our homes, the nature,” the students said in a statement.
“Four months have passed and no one was held accountable for the deaths of 29 of our fellow-citizens,” they added.
In Montenegro, one of the protest organizers, Milo Perovic, said it was important to follow the “waves of boldness” coming from Serbia.
A mass shooting on New Year's Day left 13 people dead before the attacker killed himself. It left Montenegrins asking why no action was taken after the first fatal shooting in 2022, which claimed 10 lives, among them two children. The gunman was eventually killed by a passerby.
Protests in Montenegro include daily silent blockades lasting 23 minutes to commemorate the shooting victims, just as the Serbian students honor the 15 victims of the canopy fall with 15 minutes of silence each day.
In Sarajevo, Lamija Fuka said she believed that “we, the students, can get together and change the society and our corrupt system ... put an end to all of this.”
The time is right, she added, "to wake up and for young people to finally react to what (political leaders) have been doing to us for the past 30 years.”
Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Serbia, and Predrag Milic in Montenegro contributed to this report.
Woman cries and shouts during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
A man blows a horn during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People hold banners read: "One world one fight" and "We demand an investigation" during a protest following flash floods and landslides that killed 19 people more than four months ago, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
Woman holds a banner with names of cities and amount of people killed following flash floods and landslides, during a protest, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
An aerial view of people during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
A woman wears a T -Shirt with the image of a man who died, during a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People take part in a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
People take part in a protest seeking answers after last year's devastating floods and landslides in the country, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)
A group of Buddhist monks and their rescue dog are striding single file down country roads and highways across the South, captivating Americans nationwide and inspiring droves of locals to greet them along their route.
In their flowing saffron and ocher robes, the men are walking for peace. It's a meditative tradition more common in South Asian countries, and it's resonating now in the U.S., seemingly as a welcome respite from the conflict, trauma and politics dividing the nation.
Their journey began Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, and is scheduled to end in mid-February in Washington, D.C., where they will ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday. Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.
“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.
Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they — and their dog, Aloka — have racked up millions of followers online. On Saturday, thousands thronged in Columbia, South Carolina, where the monks chanted on the steps of the State House and received a proclamation from the city's mayor, Daniel Rickenmann.
At their stop Thursday in Saluda, South Carolina, Audrie Pearce joined the crowd lining Main Street. She had driven four hours from her village of Little River, and teared up as Pannakara handed her a flower.
“There’s something traumatic and heart-wrenching happening in our country every day,” said Pearce, who describes herself as spiritual, but not religious. “I looked into their eyes and I saw peace. They’re putting their bodies through such physical torture and yet they radiate peace.”
Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their 2,300 mile (3,700 kilometer) trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.
Their journey has not been without peril. On Nov. 19, as the monks were walking along U.S. Highway 90 near Dayton, Texas, their escort vehicle was hit by a distracted truck driver, injuring two monks. One of them lost his leg, reducing the group to 18.
This is Pannakara's first trek in the U.S., but he's walked across several South Asian countries, including a 112-day journey across India in 2022 where he first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means divine light in Sanskrit.
Then a stray, the dog followed him and other monks from Kolkata in eastern India all the way to the Nepal border. At one point, he fell critically ill and Pannakara scooped him up in his arms and cared for him until he recovered. Now, Aloka inspires him to keep going when he feels like giving up.
“I named him light because I want him to find the light of wisdom,” Pannakara said.
The monk's feet are now heavily bandaged because he's stepped on rocks, nails and glass along the way. His practice of mindfulness keeps him joyful despite the pain from these injuries, he said.
Still, traversing the southeast United States has presented unique challenges, and pounding pavement day after day has been brutal.
“In India, we can do shortcuts through paddy fields and farms, but we can’t do that here because there are a lot of private properties,” Pannakara said. “But what’s made it beautiful is how people have welcomed and hosted us in spite of not knowing who we are and what we believe.”
In Opelika, Alabama, the Rev. Patrick Hitchman-Craig hosted the monks on Christmas night at his United Methodist congregation.
He expected to see a small crowd, but about 1,000 people showed up, creating the feel of a block party. The monks seemed like the Magi, he said, appearing on Christ’s birthday.
“Anyone who is working for peace in the world in a way that is public and sacrificial is standing close to the heart of Jesus, whether or not they share our tradition,” said Hitchman-Craig. “I was blown away by the number of people and the diversity of who showed up.”
After their night on the church lawn, the monks arrived the next afternoon at the Collins Farm in Cusseta, Alabama. Judy Collins Allen, whose father and brother run the farm, said about 200 people came to meet the monks — the biggest gathering she’s ever witnessed there.
“There was a calm, warmth and sense of community among people who had not met each other before and that was so special,” she said.
Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in Washington, plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha, as a national holiday.
“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.
But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.
The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.
Pannakara has told the gathered crowds that they don't aim to convert people to Buddhism.
Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.
“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”
On Thursday, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles (about 640 kilometers) from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.
“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”
Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.
“Today is my peaceful day.”
Freelance photojournalist Allison Joyce contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," get lunch Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Aloka rests with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A sign is seen greeting the Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters pray with Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Supporters watch Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
A Buddhist monk ties a prayer bracelet around the wrist of Josey Lee, 2-months-old, during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks participate in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara leads other buddhist monks in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Audrie Pearce greets Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Bhikkhu Pannakara, a spiritual leader, speaks to supporters during the, "Walk For Peace," Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," arrive in Saluda, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
Buddhist monks who are participating in the, "Walk For Peace," are seen with their dog, Aloka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Saluda, S.C. (AP Photo/Allison Joyce)
