Rallies in several cities in Serbia: Tributes paid for 16 killed in the collapse of the railway station canopy in Novi Sad

As reported by the Beta agency, at the time the tragedy occurred, at 11.52, a tribute to the victims was held at the Railway Station building in Novi Sad, on Bulevar kralja Aleksandra in Belgrade, in Niš and Kraljevo.

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From the meeting in Niš, Photo: BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC
From the meeting in Niš, Photo: BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Students and citizens in several cities in Serbia paid tribute to the 16 people who died in the collapse of the main railway station canopy in Novi Sad, ten months after the tragedy that occurred on November 1st.

As reported by the Beta agency, at the time the tragedy occurred, at 11.52, a memorial service for the victims was held at the Railway Station building in Novi Sad, on King Aleksandra Boulevard in Belgrade, in Niš and Kraljevo.

Those gathered carried banners reading "11:52, Novi Sad last stop! We must not forgive the guilty", "Let it not happen again", "You will all be held accountable".

1 / 8 Foto: BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC

They also held flowers and banners with bloody fists drawn on them, a symbol of protest.

Commemorative gatherings were also held by citizens in Čačak, Paraćin, and Novi Pazar.

From the meeting in Novi Pazar
From the meeting in Novi Pazarphoto: BETAPHOTO/Ishak Slezovic

Protests demanding accountability

For the past ten months, protests by students and citizens have been ongoing in Serbia, demanding that those responsible for the deaths of 16 people and the serious injury of one person on November 1 at the Novi Sad train station be punished.

The Serbian Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime announced on August 1 that it had arrested 11 people suspected of corruption in connection with a project to modernize the railway from Novi Sad to the Hungarian border. Part of that project was the reconstruction of the Novi Sad Railway Station, where 1 people died when a concrete canopy collapsed on November 2024, 16.

In addition to former Minister of Construction Tomislav Momirović, who was arrested on August 1, the proceedings also include former Minister Goran Vesić, who is currently receiving hospital treatment.

All those arrested are suspected of abuse of official position.

As stated by the Prosecutor's Office, the arrests are the result of the work so far of the Strike Group for investigating financial flows related to the project to modernize the railway from Novi Sad to the border with Hungary.

The main railway station in Novi Sad opened in July 2024, after a three-year reconstruction.

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