Major anti-corruption protests in Serbia add to pressure on President Vučić
Major anti-corruption protests in Serbia add to pressure on President Vučić
Novi Sad’s bridges blocked by thousands rallying against government and in memory of roof collapse blamed on graft that killed 15
Serbia’s powerful populist leader Aleksandar Vučić was facing his biggest challenge yet as student-led demonstrations intensified at the weekend in what was being called the Balkan country’s greatest ever protest movement.
Three months to the day after a concrete canopy collapsed at the entrance of Novi Sad’s railway station, tens of thousands of protesters converged on the northern city, blockading its three bridges in commemoration of the 15 people killed in the accident. The tragedy has been blamed squarely on government ineptitude and graft.
“What we are seeing are the greatest street protests in the history of Serbia,” said Dejan Bagarić, a master’s student speaking from the city. “There’s never been anything like it, people are really animated because everybody has had enough of corruption and this government is very corrupt.”
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By last week the anti-government rallies had spread to more than 100 provincial towns and villages nationwide.
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On Friday, as hundreds of students reached Novi Sad on foot after a two-day, 80km trek from Belgrade, Vučić, addressing the protests, told the nation: “Our country is under attack, from abroad and from inside,” echoing earlier claims that the protesters were working for unspecified foreign powers to oust the government.
