Serbian Teenager Becomes 16th Victim to Die After Station Disaster

A 19-year-old student who was seriously injured in November’s Novi Sad railway station disaster – the incident that sparked an outbreak of mass protests across Serbia – has died in hospital.

A 19-year-old identified by the initials V.C. died in hospital on Friday, announced the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, where he was being treated – the 16th fatal casualty of the Novi Sad station disaster in November.

V.C. was seriously injured in the collapse of a concrete canopy at the station, where 14 people died at the scene and another died in hospital two weeks later. Another victim, also seriously injured, is still in hospital.

V.C. was a student at the Svetozar Miletic Secondary School of Economics Svetozar Miletic in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second city. His classmates called on people to join them in front of the school on Friday to pay tribute.

Novi Sad railway station had undergone a high-profile renovation just before the collapse. The tragedy caused an outbreak of mass protests, led by students, demanding official accountability and raising suspicions of corruption and official negligence.

Since then, some of the largest demonstrations in Serbia’s history have been held in the country’s main cities, posing the greatest challenge yet to President Aleksandar Vucic’s rule. The resignation of the prime minister and other ministers has not quelled demands for change.

Students on Friday had been blockading public bus transportation in Belgrade, but ceased their direct action after it was announced that the 16th casualty had died.

“To family, friends and all who knew him, we express our deepest condolences. This tragedy has left an indelible mark on our hearts, and we are all mourning together for the lost lives,” said a post on the Students in Blockade account on X, which was reposted by other social media accounts run by protesting students.

Students from Belgrade University, supported by members of the public and school pupils, had blockaded the GSP city transport bus and tram depot in Belgrade at 3am on Friday morning.

The City Secretariat of Public Transport said that 26 bus and tram lines were unable to operate from Friday morning because “a group of citizens has blocked the exits of the GSP ‘New Belgrade’ and ‘Central’ depots”.

Most of the blocked bus lines are crucial for public transport in Belgrade because they connect the New Belgrade district with the city centre.

The mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic, criticised the student action, saying that “when anarchy takes over, the state ceases to exist, and the impossible becomes possible without any accountability”.

“Everything has, of course, been reported to the police, but it is up to the people of Belgrade to ‘patiently’ wait for those 20 individuals to show mercy and allow public transport to function again,” said Sapic.

In another protest on Friday, professors at the University of Novi Sad blocked an intersection near the university building and several faculties in the city.

The professors organised the blockade in protest against a suspected attack on participants at a mass protest in Belgrade on March 15, which has led to continuing claims that the authorities have been using high-tech sonic disruption equipment, although this has been denied.

There was also a protest in front of the Primary Court in Novi Sad to support six members of the opposition Movement of Free Citizens and the Stav organisation, 021 news website reported.

They were arrested on March 14 under anti-coup legislation, suspected of “planning an attack on the constitutional order and the criminal offence of calling for a violent change of the constitutional order” and remanded in custody for 30 days.

IT specialists also held a protest in Republic Square in Belgrade on Friday to support students of the private School of Computing, who they said were being targeted by the educational authorities.

“The administration of the School of Computing at Union University (RAF) has been intimidating students for weeks for participating in the organisation of plenums, protests, and the blockade of the faculty,” said a statement posted on the IT Blockade Instagram account.

/balkaninsight.com