Serbian students rally against alleged civil rights violations under Vučić government

euronews (in English)

University classes have been suspended for weeks with students demanding accountability for the collapse of a concrete canopy at Novi Sad railway station in November that killed 15 people.

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00:00University students in Serbia have protested outside the Constitutional Court in Belgrade

00:07against what they say are civil rights violations under the government of Aleksandar Vucic.

00:12They also claim to have come under pressure from the Secret Service.

00:16Pro-government media have published personal data of some of the protesters, which wouldn't

00:21be possible without the involvement of Serbia's Secret Service, the BIA.

00:25The ongoing protests reflect wider discontent with what they see as President Aleksandar

00:30Vucic's increasingly autocratic rule.

00:33Vucic says he wants to steer Serbia towards European Union membership, but he's faced

00:38accusations of curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them.

00:53The rally began with thousands of people standing in silence to commemorate the victims

00:58of a concrete canopy collapse at a railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 15 people.

01:04That incident triggered almost daily anti-corruption protests.

01:08Many in Serbia believe the canopy collapsed in November because of sloppy reconstruction

01:13work that resulted from corruption.

01:15Prosecutors have filed charges against 13 people, including a government minister and

01:20several state officials.

01:22Doubts remain about the probe's independence.

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