Saturday’s rally was expected to be the largest since the tragedy and is the culmination of a year of upheaval in the Balkan country, which has seen student-led activists regularly taking to the streets to demand justice for the victims. Crackdowns on the activists have triggered accusations of brutality by the authorities and calls for early elections. Corruption is widely considered to be a possible factor in the roof collapse, which is subject to investigation. So far, 13 people have been charged but no trial date has been set. On Saturday, Novi Sad’s Freedom Boulevard, which leads to the site of the disaster, was filled with tractors, motorcycles, and banners calling for accountability and the resignation of President Aleksandar Vučić’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). At 11:52 a.m., the exact time when part of the Novi Sad railway station roof collapsed a year ago, thousands of protesters and mourners across the city stopped for a 16-minute silence—one minute for each of the victims. The crowd stood still along Freedom Boulevard and around the station, many holding candles and flowers. Dijana Hrka, the mother of 27-year-old victim Stefan Hrka, told those gathered in Novi Sad that she was still awaiting justice for her son. Since the tragedy, she has become a public figure, and now intends to go on hunger strike in protest at what she says is a lack of accountability. “Today is the saddest day for all of us, today Novi Sad is crying, but I am fighting so that no one has to cry again, not a single mother, not a single sister,” she said, quoted by Serbian news network N1. President appeals for unity Vučić, who had called for calm and national unity ahead of the anniversary, paid his respects at the Church of St. Sava in Belgrade, where he lit a candle for each of the deceased. In a post on his social media accounts, the president said Saturday was a day “when we should pray in silence for the victims, without harsh words and division.” However, the last 12 months has revealed deep mistrust and discontent among many Serbians towards SNS and Vučić, who was appointed prime minister in 2014 before becoming president in 2017. Calls for the authorities to deal with rampant corruption—considered one of the root causes of the Novi Sad disaster—drove student-led protesters to the streets, with some 300,000 people participating in a rally in March, considered one of the largest in the country’s history. In the summer, crackdowns on student activists intensified and the largely peaceful gatherings took a violent turn. Protesters calling for snap elections criticized the authorities’ “brutality,” while Vučić and his government accused the protest movement of wanting to “topple Serbia.”
