Serbian students lead strike as protests against Aleksandar Vučić's rule continue

A woman has driven her car into a crowd of protesters in Serbia's capital as a student-led strike shuttered businesses across the country.

Police in Belgrade said that they detained the 24-year-old driver who rammed into the crowd in a section of the city called New Belgrade.

The injured victim, a 26-year-old woman, was hospitalised and her condition was described as stable.

A similar incident took place during a blockade last week in Belgrade, when a car drove into a group of students, seriously injuring a young woman.

Protesters have blocked traffic daily across Serbia to protest the deaths of 15 people killed when a concrete canopy collapsed at Novi Sad railway station in November, that critics blame on government corruption.

Many in Serbia believe the canopy fell down because of sloppy construction work.

Weekslong protests demanding accountability over the disaster have been the biggest since President Aleksandar Vučić came to power more than a decade ago.

He has faced accusations of being increasingly authoritarian and curbing democratic freedoms despite formally seeking European Union membership for Serbia.

"Let's take freedom in our hands," students told the citizens in their strike call.

The nationwide protests took place on the same day that Vučić held a 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.

Vučić 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," Vučić said, pointing out Serbia's friendly relations with Russia