Serbian protesters join students plan to block a main bridge in Belgrade amidst ongoing protests

Record ID: 1986622

  • Title: Serbian protesters join students plan to block a main bridge in Belgrade amidst ongoing protests
  • Date: 26th March 2025
  • Summary: BELGRADE (SERBIA)(MARCH 26, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS MARCHING, STANDING ON BRIDGE WITH FLAGS, UMBRELLAS, FERRARI FLAG (SYMBOL OF PROTESTS FROM MILOSEVIC’S TIME – 1996/1997) VARIOUS OF STUDENTS WITH FLAGS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE FACULTIES, VARIOUS BANNERS WITH SLOGANS, ONE READING: ECONOMIC TIGER (with drawing of a tiger, a pun on the Serbian President’s talk of econ
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Belgrade Novi Sad Serbia Vucic railway station disaster student protest block bridge
  • Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • City: BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Europe,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001189226032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Hundreds of students and other protesters braved heavy rain on Wednesday to block a key bridge in Belgrade on Friday to protest the deaths of 16 victims in a railway station disaster last November.
    Daily protests led by students have spread over the past four months to most Serbia following a collapse of an awning in a newly renovated train station in Novi Sad, country’s second-largest city, in which 15 people were killed.
    Protesters at the Branko’s bridge that links city center with the Novi Beograd area, waved flags, blew whistles and horns and chanted their trademark slogan “Pump it up.”
    “I think this is very important to bring up civic consciousness and activism as there’s no democracy without it. You cannot hibernate and expect democracy,” said Luka Todorovic, 29, from Belgrade.
    Many in Serbia have tied the Novi Sad disaster to widespread corruption and mismanagement. The authorities and populist President Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party deny those accusations.
    “The message is that we all have to be active at all times and not allow that laws are in one man’s or government’s hands but as soon as such thing start to happen we are all active and on the streets,” said Jasmina Manojlovic, 50 a protester from Belgrade.
    “We will not stop, we are not tired. We stay strong in the rain and under the worst conditions and we will not give up,” said Ivana Bauk, a student.
    They also accuse Vucic and SNS of ties with organised crime, stifling media freedoms and violence against political opponents. Vucic and his allies deny that.
    Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and two other ministers have resigned amid the protests and prosecutors have charged 13 people in connection with the roof collapse.
    (Production: Branko Filipovic,
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