Thousands of students arrived in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac on Saturday to demand accountability and responsibility from the authorities, following the deadly incident at the Novi Sad train station in November.
Meanwhile, supporters of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić have planned to hold a rally to mark February 15, Statehood Day, in Sremska Mitrovica, northwest of Belgrade.
The student-led protest is the latest in a string of nationwide protests since November 1, when a shelter collapsed at the Novi Sad train station, killing 15 people.
Many Serbs blame corruption and nepotism within President Vučić's government for the tragedy, which he denies. Political analysts say the demonstrations have posed one of the biggest threats to Vučić's decade-long rule.
For more than two months, students in Serbia have been blocking dozens of faculties across the country. They are demanding criminal and political accountability for the incident in Novi Sad.
Protest in Kragujevac
The students chose Kragujevac, where they intend to block one of the city's main boulevards for 15 hours and 15 minutes, in honor of the victims.
The students arrived in Kragujevac on Friday and were greeted with cheers and support from residents. Before Saturday's protest, they had organized marches in various parts of the country, encouraging people to gather in Kragujevac. Along the way, people greeted them with food and drink and offered them shelter, many crying and expressing hope for change.
Problematic elements
In the student protests in Serbia, however, some extremist elements have also been observed.
Radio Free Europe reported in January that symbols of several far-right organizations were also seen at one such protest, as well as numerous flags with the map of Kosovo and the message "No surrender."
Also present were representatives of the far-right association "Club 451", which - based on its posts on social networks - opposes the independence of Kosovo, supports the secession of Republika Srpska from the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, opposes the integration of refugees and publishes hate messages against members of the LGBT community.
Veterans of the 63rd Parachute Brigade - a tactical unit of the Serbian army that also participated in the war in Kosovo - were also seen at the protests. They were also seen in Kragujevac today, as well as flags with a map of Kosovo and the inscription "No surrender".
Students, however, have distanced themselves from these organizations.
Meanwhile, in Sremska Mitrovica, a small town northwest of Belgrade, Vučić is expected to recycle a traditional nationalist theme, warning that the West will try to oust him from power by force and that this could lead to the division of the country.
Serbian authorities are expected to bus thousands of supporters from across Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Sremska Mitrovica on Saturday. Some opposition activists have said they will try to prevent their arrival.
The anti-corruption drive is Vucic's biggest challenge in recent years. The president - who has led Serbia for more than a decade - and his Progressive Party of Serbia have previously been accused of suppressing democratic freedoms and publicly discrediting opponents, according to international election observers.
The collapse of the shelter, believed to have occurred due to government corruption, has become the starting point of wider dissatisfaction with the government, with university students leading the anti-corruption protests.
Prosecutors have indicted 13 people over the demolition of a shelter at the Novi Sad train station, and protests have forced Serbia's prime minister to resign. But students have said their protests will continue until their demands for full accountability are met.
In the past three months, Vucic has at times accused the students of working for foreign powers, at times said he would make concessions and claimed to have met every student demand. But during a visit this week to Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity, Vucic repeated claims of an alleged foreign plot to oust him and his government.
The authorities, Vucic said, "couldn't believe how much money was invested to overthrow the government in Serbia." He offered no evidence for these claims. /REL (A2 Televizion)
A2 CNN Livestream
MUND TE LEXONI GJITHASHTU
