Thousands march in Serbian capital demanding prime minister resigns

Thousands of anti-government protesters marched in the Serbian capital on Monday, demanding the resignation of top officials after the deadly collapse of a concrete roof at a railway station which killed 14 people earlier this month. 

Those rallying in Belgrade blamed the collapse of the roof on rampant corruption and sloppy renovation work on the station building in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad. 

The several thousand protesters demanded that Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and his government step down and that those responsible for the collapse be arrested. 

Authorities have opened an investigation and the Serbian construction minister resigned last week, but no one has yet been charged with the incident which occurred on November 1st. 

Monday’s rally was peaceful, unlike one last week in Novi Sad where masked people threw rocks, bottles and red paints at the City Hall – with police using tear gas against the rioters. 

Serbian government officials have promised full accountability, but there is a widespread skepticism as the populists control both the police and the judiciary. 

Originally built in 1964, the train station which collapsed was renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider deal with Chinese state companies involved in several infrastructure projects in the Balkan country. 

It was inaugurated by Serbia’s President Aleksander Vucic and his populist ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban over two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest.