Serbia's students lead Danube bridge blockades as protest draws tens of thousands calling for change

NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's students led a mass protest and blocked bridges over the River Danube in the northern city of Novi Sad on Saturday, drawing tens of thousands into the streets to express their anger with the country's populist leadership and to call for change.

Saturday marked three months since a huge concrete canopy at Novi Sad's main railway station collapsed, killing 15 people. The crash on Nov. 1 sparked a wide anti-corruption movement and months of student-led street protests.

Many in Serbia believe that the collapse was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies.

Critics believe graft led to a sloppy job during the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, poor oversight and disrespect of existing safety regulations. The issue has come to symbolize a wider discontent over the rule of law in Serbia.

Tens of thousands of people converged on Novi Sad for the blockades, dubbed “Three Months — Three Bridges.” One of the blockades is set to extend until Sunday.

As the blockades started, entire bridges and the streets around them were flooded with people, while many more stood on the riverbanks below. Self-appointed student guards had to control the number of people walking on the bridges for security reasons.

“After long time we can feel positive energy in the air, on the streets, among people," said Slavica Nikolic, a local resident.

“When I talk to people, it feels like the hope has woken up,” she said. “We remember well some uglier times. This is finally some sort of new hope, that something good is going to happen in this country.”

Roads into the city were clogged with cars ahead of the rally as people tried to reach Novi Sad from Belgrade and other Serbian cities.

Tractors rolled through the city streets as farmers drove in front of three separate student columns heading toward the three bridges and thousands of residents cheered them along the way. Many carried Serbian flags in the crowd or banners reading "Three months" or "We are defending freedom."

University students have taken a leading role in the protests that have developed into the most serious challenge in years to the country's powerful populist leader, President Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic has accused students and other protesters of working for foreign intelligence services to oust him from power, while at the same time offering concessions and talks and issuing veiled threats by saying that his supporters’ “patience is running out.”

“Today we offer talks and today we offer dialogue,” Vucic said on Saturday. “The second someone thinks that they will use violence to seize power, the state will act like a state, just like everywhere else in the world."

Persistent demonstrations forced the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic earlier this week and various concessions from the populist government as it seeks to quell growing resistance.

Thousands of people came out on Friday evening to welcome hundreds of students from Belgrade who had walked for two days to join the bridge blockades.

Apart from Novi Sad and Belgrade, daily protests and traffic blockades have been held throughout Serbia, often marred by incidents, including drivers ramming cars into protesters.

One such incident happened in Belgrade on Friday, leaving two women injured after a driver knocked them down.

Along the way on their 80-kilometer (50-mile) journey to Novi Sad on Thursday and Friday, the students from Belgrade were greeted by cheering citizens who honked their car horns or came out of their homes to offer food and drinks.

Hundreds more people on bicycles and motorcycles headed separately toward Novi Sad on Friday and Saturday while Belgrade’s taxi drivers said they would come too and give the marchers a lift home on Sunday.

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Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this story from Belgrade, Serbia.