site.btaBulgarians and Serbians from Trasibrod, Pirot Rally in Support of Protesting Students
Bulgarians and Serbians from Tsaribrod and Pirot rallied on Saturday in support of the protesting students in Serbia. "We are on the big bridge in Pirot right now. We want the students' demands to be met, and we hope there will be a change in Serbia," protesters from the two towns told BTA.
The students have been protesting for more than three months over the November collapse of a concrete canopy at the recently renovated train station of Novi Sad, which claimed 15 lives and injured two people. Protesters accuse the government of corruption and nepotism that led to low-quality repairs of the station and the subsequent tragedy.
Saturday's protest of Bulgarians and Serbians from Tsaribrod and Pirot was a continuation of activities undertaken by local residents for weeks in memory of the Novi Sad victims. A protester told BTA in Pirot that on this day, students come and liberate the cities in Serbia. "Hats down, we are with them!" the protester said.
On Serbia's national holiday on Saturday, thousands of students and citizens took control of the town of Kragujevac, where the first constitution of the Serbian principality was adopted on February 15, 1835. The students marked Serbian Statehood Day with a 15-hour blockade of Kragujevac, which they see as a symbol of the rule of law.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic called on citizens to gather in Sremska Mitrovica, over 200 km away from Kragujevac, to mark Serbian Statehood Day. A declaration is expected to be adopted confirming that the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an inseparable part of Serbia. The declaration comes against the backdrop of Vucic's concerns that the protesting students, "incited by the opposition", are making calls for wider autonomy for Vojvodina.
/DS/
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