Serbia’s trade unions joined thousands of protesters in a May Day rally called by student leaders Thursday, six months after a deadly train station tragedy that sparked mass demonstrations against corruption.
Thousands gathered in the capital Belgrade and the northern city of Novi Sad, where the collapse of a renovated railway station last November killed 16 people in a tragedy widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight.
Thursday’s rallies on international Labour Day were the latest in a wave of unrest sparked by the disaster, which led to the resignation of a prime minister and the fall of the government.
Whistling, crowds of all ages converged in the early afternoon in front of the government building in Belgrade, some waving red, white and blue Serbian flags and others the colours of their unions.
“We are here to fight for the workers, to get better working and living conditions,” one protester, Milica Petrovic, 46, an economist, told AFP.
“I have followed what the students are doing since the start and I support them. It is important for students and workers to work together and fight for a better future.”
Novi Sad commemoration
The students announced on their official Instagram account ahead of the rallies that their “struggle is entering a new phase”.
Zeljko Veselinovic, leader of the “Sloga” (Unity) union, stressed the importance of the development.
“The students have united us,” he told AFP.
“In my 20 years of union work, it has never happened that these five unions stood together at a protest — or even in the same room — working on something jointly,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, thousands of people gathered at the train station in Novi Sad, six months to the day since the disaster, Beta news agency reported.
They held red heart-shaped balloons bearing the names of victims and unveiled a plaque commemorating those killed.
‘Towards radicalisation’
The students said that after the protest, they would no longer confine themselves to the blockades that have kept their faculties closed for months.
“This is a step towards radicalisation that will enable new forms of pressure,” the students wrote, without elaborating.
They have already called for the prosecution of those responsible for the accident and for charges laid against students arrested during the blockades to be dropped. Now they are pressing for changes to the labour and strike laws.
Many teachers who have supported them have been left without pay for months due to vague laws that allow their employers to stop their wages even when they are not on strike.
“They protect the authorities, not the workers,” said the students of the current legislation. “These laws must be changed.”
Backing from the bereaved
The students’ protests have been backed by the likes of Dijana Hrka, whose 27-year-old son Stefan died in the November tragedy.
She has followed their actions from the beginning and can often be seen at protests, greeting and hugging demonstrators with tears in her eyes.
“They are the ones who gave me the wind beneath my wings,” she told AFP.
“I realised that our country’s leadership cares neither for the children nor for the people… They only care about money.”
Across Serbia, there have been student-led protests almost daily over the past six months, the largest of which have gathered hundreds of thousands of people.
Ahead of each major demonstration, students have spent weeks touring the country on foot, trying to reach people in the country’s smaller towns — traditional strongholds of the ruling party.
The investigation into the disaster has made little progress, said Hrka’s lawyer, Ivan Ninic.
On December 30, prosecutors filed criminal charges against 13 people, including a former transport minister, for endangering public safety. The Serbian court however returned the indictment for further investigation.
