The students in the blockade who ran a relay marathon from Novi Sad to Brussels, met with representatives of the European Parliament at the headquarters of the European Union on May 13, to whom they informed about their demands and the situation in Serbia.
"Officials were extremely positively surprised by everything that students in Serbia have done in the past 6 months of struggle, they were informed about all our endeavors and protests across our country," Milena Zlatković, a student, told Radio Free Europe.
She pointed out that they were "welcomed with the utmost respect and understanding" in the European Parliament.
Before entering the European Parliament building, students paid tribute to those killed in the canopy collapse in Novi Sad. They took off their sneakers, in which they had run almost 2.000 kilometers, and placed flowers and black papers with the years of birth and death of all the victims of the tragedy, Beta news agency reported.
The meeting with the students was attended by about ten Members of the European Parliament from five political groups.
"The students have received support from all political groups. We have certain differences between us here. However, when it comes to some basic values, such as, for example, the fight against corruption, the rule of law and the like, we are mostly all united and in that sense the students have received support," Social Democrat MEP Biljana Borzan told TV N1.
She added that they did not express political views, nor did they give any advice regarding internal affairs in Serbia.
The marathon relay students called it "From my village to Brussels." They completed the journey in 18 days, taking a route through eight countries. They arrived in Brussels on May 12, where they were given a ceremonial welcome.
A group of about twenty students headed to the headquarters of the European Union from Novi Sad on April 25th with the aim of drawing attention to the demands of months of blockades and protests to European officials.
The focus of their demands is to establish criminal and political responsibility for the accident. The government claims that the students' demands have been met, calling on them to open the faculties. The academics, on the other hand, say that they have not, and that the blockades continue.
In addition to hundreds of thousands of citizens who have been gathering in protests for months, numerous university professors, educators, farmers, lawyers, and actors have also stood behind the students' demands.
Meanwhile, on May 5, students came out with a demand to call early parliamentary elections. They decided to take this step because, as they stated, "the authorities are not showing the slightest initiative" to fulfill their demands.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić responded to this request two days later, saying that the students in the blockade "will not wait long" for early parliamentary elections to be called. Vučić, however, did not specify when this might happen.
During a visit to Belgrade at the end of April, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos stated that students are demanding almost identical things from the authorities, which the EU also insists on, given that Serbia is a candidate country for membership.
She also called on the Serbian Government to work together with the European Union to establish an independent judiciary, free media, and electoral frameworks that will reflect the views of Serbian citizens.
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