Serbia youth lead thousands on march to Novi Sad for station collapse anniversary rally

Описание: (30 Oct 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

++PART MUTE++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nova Pazova, Serbia - 30 October 2025
1. Moon over Nova Pazova
2. Various aerials of students march ++MUTE++
3. Various of march arriving and locals greeting them
4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Novica Trifkovic, student walking from Belgrade:
"We are ready and feeling fantastic. Everywhere we come people are awaiting for us, everyone very happy, people are crying. I don't know who they are, they don't know who I am, but everyone is proud and its all fantastic. We are not tired, and we are all pumping."
5. Wide of protest
6. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Srba Knezevic, pensioner, resident of Nova Pazova:
"Well who else can I believe in? Look at all this youth here. I am a grandfather, and I have belief in my grandchildren and my sons."
7. Aerials of the protest march ++MUTE++
STORYLINE:
Thousands of mainly young people in Serbia embarked on a two-day march from Belgrade on Thursday, aiming to join a major rally in the country's north this weekend that will mark the anniversary of a deadly train station disaster.

The concrete canopy collapse at the central train station in Novi Sad killed 16 people on Nov. 1. in 2024.

The tragedy has unleashed a youth-led protest movement against autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic.

Protesters believe the victims died because government corruption led to sloppy renovation work at the station. They have been demanding accountability for the disaster, and an early parliamentary election that they hope will oust Vucic's populist government from power.

Flag-waving university students on Thursday led the huge column of marchers setting off on the 90-kilometer (58-mile) journey toward Novi Sad.

"Everywhere we come people are awaiting for us, everyone very happy, people are crying. I don't know who they are, they don't know who I am, but everyone is proud," said student Novica Trifkovic, as the march arrived in Nova Pazova.

Saturday's gathering there is expected to draw tens of thousands of people, piling pressure on Vucic.

Various other groups of university students also have been trekking across Serbia for two weeks before they all converge in Novi Sad on Saturday.

Belgrade residents came out of their houses on Thursday to greet the protesters as they passed by. People honked their car horns, waved or blew whistles. Some cried.

Authorities have detained scores of university students and other protesters in the past months, trying to crush the resistance. Police have been accused of brutality toward protesters, including beatings and arbitrary detentions.

While 13 people have been charged in the disaster, no trial date has been set. Doubts prevail that proceedings would untangle an alleged top-level corruption web that critics believe led to the fatal negligence and disregard of construction safety rules during the station building renovation.

Vucic, without offering evidence, has branded student-protesters as Western-backed “terrorists,” while the governing Serbian Progressive Party organized counterrallies. This has fueled political tensions.

Serbia is formally seeking to join the European Union. But the accession process has been stalled, because Vucic has nurtured close ties with Russia and China, while being accused of clamping down on democratic freedoms.

AP video shot by Eldar Emric and Armin Durgut
Production: Amer Cohadzic

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