Driver rams an anti-government rally in Serbia’s capital and injures one protester
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A woman rammed a car into a crowd of anti-government protesters in Serbia’s capital and injured one of them Friday, police said, as a student-led strike shut down businesses and drew tens of thousands of people to demonstrations around the country.
The nationwide protests took place on the same day that President Aleksandar Vucic held a big afternoon rally with thousands of supporters in the central town of Jagodina, his coalition stronghold, to counter the persistent anti-government protests that have challenged his tight grip on power for nearly three months.
Vucic told his supporters that the country has been “attacked both from outside and inside” by the anti-government protests.
“It is not accidental that that they have attacked Serbia from abroad,” Vucic said, pointing out Serbia’s friendly relations with Russia and China, and a refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow because of the war in Ukraine.
“That is what they want to crush, but we must not allow it. That is our strength,” he told the cheering crowd.
Vucic also called for a dialogue with the striking students who have received widespread support from all walks of life in Serbia, at the same time weakening popular support for his party. The students have rejected negotiations on their demands with Vucic.
The protesters have blocked traffic daily in Serbia to protest the deaths of 15 people killed in the November collapse of a train station canopy that critics have blamed on government corruption.
Police in Belgrade said that they detained the 24-year-old driver who rammed into a crowd of protesters in a section of the city called New Belgrade. The injured victim, a 26-year-old woman was hospitalized and her condition was described as stable.
A similar incident took place during a blockade last week in Belgrade, when a car rammed into protesting students, seriously injuring a young woman.
Many in Serbia believe the huge concrete canopy at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad fell down because of sloppy reconstruction work that resulted from corruption.
Weekslong protests demanding accountability over the crash have been the biggest since Vucic came to power more than a decade ago. He has faced accusations of curbing democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union membership for Serbia.
It wasn’t immediately possible to determine how many people and companies joined the students’ call for a one-day general strike on Friday. They included restaurants, bars, theaters, bakeries, various shops and bookstores.
“Let’s take freedom in our hands,” students told the citizens in their strike call.
At his rally in Jagodina, Vucic announced the formation in March of a nationwide political movement in the style of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia movement to help ensure the dominance of his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party.
“You are all welcome to the movement of big change and future,” Vucic said.
He said that the movement will include people who aren’t members of any political party.
“We need new energy,” Vucic said.
The president and the country’s mainstream media have accused the students of working under orders from foreign intelligence services to overthrow the authorities while pro-government thugs have repeatedly attacked protesting citizens.
The 15-minute traffic blockades on Friday started at 11:52 a.m., the exact time of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad.
Serbian universities have been blockaded for two months, along with many schools. A lawyers’ association also has gone on strike, but it remained unclear how many people stayed away from work in the state-run institutions on Friday.
Protests marches were held Friday in Belgrade, Novi Sad, the southern city of Nis and other smaller cities — even in Jagodina before Vucic’s arrival.
“Things can’t stay the same anymore,” actor Goran Susljik told N1 regional television. “Students have offered us the possibility of change.”
Serbia’s prosecutors have filed charges against 13 people for the canopy collapse, including a government minister and several state officials. But the former construction minister Goran Vesic has been released from detention, fueling doubts over the investigation’s independence.
The main railway station in Novi Sad was renovated twice in recent years as part of a wider infrastructure deal with Chinese state companies.
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Dusan Stojanovic contributed to this report.
By JOVANA GEC
Associated Press
