site.btaPolice Break Protest in Serbian Town, One Student Injured

Students blocked a town entry intersection in Novi Pazar, in the southwest of Serbia, on Saturday to keep supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party from being bussed to the capital Belgrade for the culmination of a three-day rally called by the country’s President Aleksandar Vucic under the motto “We Will Not Give Up on Serbia,” according to N1, a regional cable news channel with offices in Belgrade and other Western Balkan capitals.

Police broke the blockade. One of the students was injured, Serbian media reported. After an apparent change of plan, citizens and students walked over to the police station in Novi Pazar to voice their discontent with the law enforcers’ actions.

Students who have set out to reach Strasbourg by bicycle arrived in Munich on Friday evening. They were welcomed by a large crowd, among them Serbian Orthodox Bishop Grigorije, Head of the Diocese of Dusseldorf and All Germany. In a speech, Grigorije described the students as “the modern knights and heroes of our time,” N1 reported.

In front of an Orthodox church in Munich, the students and the bishop sang the song Tamo daleko (There, Far Away), which had been sung by Serbian soldiers retreating to the Greek island of Corfu during World War I.

Tractors are on standby round Pioneers Park near the Serbian Presidency in Belgrade as President Vucic prepares to address his supporters at 7 PM local time (8 PM Bulgarian time) on Saturday. People coming by bus, car and motorcycle from all over Serbia are gathering in downtown Belgrade.

On March 15, tractors without license plates appeared in the same place before a massive protest organized by students. Back then, Vucic said the tractors were there to protect counter-protesters who had put up a tent camp in Pioneers Park.

Students, backed by university professors, schoolteachers, farmers, workers, artists, lawyers and trade unions, have been protesting in Serbia since November 2024, when a railway station canopy in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people. The protesters say the tragedy came as a result of corruption and nepotism which led to substandard repairs at the railway station. The three-year renovation of the building was part of an infrastructure deal with Chinese state-owned companies.