Tens of thousands of people have descended on Serbia’s capital to protest against the deaths of 15 people in a railway station collapse.
The government has put attendance at 107,000 across Belgrade. Organisers and independent monitors have yet to give their estimates.
Either way, it probably ranks as the largest demonstration Serbia has ever seen.
The Novi Sad collapse last November has galvanised anger towards the government and President Aleksandar Vucic. Demonstrators blame corruption and corner-cutting for the loss of life.
They believe the disaster reflects more than a decade of governing by the Progressive Party of Vucic – who closely associated himself with the station’s recent renovation.
Despite multiple resignations – and Vucic’s insistence that he is going nowhere – the protests have only continued to grow.
“We just want a country that works,” law student Jana Vasic told the BBC in the growing crowd in Belgrade.
“We want institutions that do their jobs properly. We don’t care what party is in power. But we need a country that works, not one where you don’t get justice for more than four months.”
Republic Square – just one of the four meeting points around Serbia’s capital for the “15th for 15” protest – was full to overflowing on Saturday.
Some took refuge on the plinth of Prince Mihajlo’s statue – the traditional spot for Belgraders to meet, the equivalent of Eros in London’s Piccadilly.
Others queued up along the road in front of the National Museum, stretching all the way back to Students’ Square.
The other meeting points were every bit as crowded ahead of the planned rendezvous in front of the National Assembly.
While the protests over the Novi Sad collapse began with students, they have been joined by taxi drivers, farmers and lawyers.
Ahead of the big protest, motorbike riders pulled up outside the National Assembly, facing off against the tractors surrounding a camp of pro-government counter-protesters.
Then a parade of military veterans received a rousing welcome. They said they would make a citizen’s arrest on anyone who attacked the students.
The students have been calling for full transparency and accountability over the collapse of a concrete and glass canopy at the station in Serbia’s second city, which was renovated and only reopened – by Vucic – in 2022.
They want the government to publish all the documentation relating to the renovation project and say they are not satisfied with the papers the authorities have released so far.
They also want those responsible for the disaster to be charged and convicted. Prosecutors have indicted at least 16 people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic.
But the charges have yet to go to trial. And the students insist they will continue with their protests until the authorities meet all their demands.
“We’re making progress,” a student representing Belgrade University’s philosophy faculty told the BBC. “But at this point none of our demands have been met completely.”
“A couple of politicians have resigned from their offices,” noted another. “But they weren’t fired. We’re yet to see anything but empty promises”.
Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation at the end of January. But that has yet to be ratified by the National Assembly and he remains in his post.
But the real power in Serbia lies with Vucic, who insists that he is going nowhere.
“I don’t give in to blackmail,” he told a media conference on the eve of the big protest. “I won’t allow the street to pave a horrible future for this country.”
Vucic described the student protests as “well-intentioned”. But he had less flattering words for opposition parties, labelling them members of a “criminal cartel”. He accused them of attempting to force the formation of a “fraudulent interim government”.
Borko Stefanovic does not deny that the opposition parties are looking for the establishment of a “government of experts”.
The deputy president of the Party of Freedom and Justice describes it as the “only rational way out” of the political crisis, which would establish the conditions for fresh elections.
Like other opposition leaders, Stefanovic says that free elections are not currently possible due to the Progressive Party’s domination of the media and state institutions.
But this is not one of the students’ demands. They are simply calling for the truth behind the Novi Sad disaster to be established.
As law professor Miodrag Jovanovic puts it “they are asking for the things I’ve been lecturing about – the rule of law, respect for the constitution, and the responsibility and accountability of public officials”.
Whatever happens during the “15th for 15” protest, it seems unlikely that the students will relent until they receive some satisfactory answers.
