Female students lead daily anti-graft rally in Serbia to mark International Women's Day

Описание: (8 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia - 8 March 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
1. Tractors drive ahead of students marching
2. Students marching
3. Woman waves a flag sitting on a tractor
4. Students marching
5. Tractor driving
6. Various of students marching
7. Tractors and students arriving at intersection
8. Protesters and police vehicles on bridge
9. Protesters on bridge
10. Pan right from riot police to protesters on bridge
11. Various of riot police
12. Protesters shouting and blowing horns
13. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Jelena Mitrovic, Belgrade resident:
”We are getting ready for March 15, we expect support from our people to gather in large numbers, to stand by the students. I expect we will finally finish something we have not finished in a long time.”
14. Tractors driving down street
15. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Radomir Bjelic, Belgrade resident:
”I am here to support the students, above all, and our future.”
16. Tractors and students moving slowly along street
STORYLINE:
Female students marked International Women's Day in Serbia on Saturday by leading the daily street protests against corruption, while thousands later joined a separate student-led rally pressuring the populist government. 

Riot police deployed at a bridge over the Sava River in Belgrade to stop several farmers on tractors from reaching the city center where the rally was underway at a central square. 

University students in Serbia are behind almost daily rallies that started after a concrete canopy crashed down in November at a railway station in Novi Sad, killing 15 people.

Many in Serbia believe that the huge concrete construction fell because of poor renovation work fuelled by government corruption.

The demonstrations have become a challenge to populist President Aleksandar Vucic.

Student-led rallies have drawn tens of thousands of people, becoming among the biggest ever in Serbia which has a long history of anti-government protests.

Vucic has described the rallies as a Western-orchestrated ploy to oust him from power.

The next big rally is planned for March 15 in Belgrade.

Vucic has vowed that many will be arrested.

All student-led protests in the past months have been peaceful, while incidents were recorded when opponents drove cars into protest blockades or attacked the protesters. 

The populist leader and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have held a firm grip on power in Serbia for over a decade, facing accusations of stifling democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union entry for Serbia. 

Authorities have indicted 16 people over the canopy collapse, but many doubt that the actual culprits will face justice. 

AP video shot by Ivan Bzganovic Nesic

===========================================================

Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected].

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...