'Standing under a collapsing roof': Serbian students demand justice after fatal awning collapse

"I was under that roof about an hour before it collapsed," 22-year-old Branislav, a student from Novi Sad said, remembering the day when the concrete awning of a railway station in Serbia’s second-largest city that collapsed on 1 November, killing 15 people and severely injuring two.

"I attended the first big protest afterwards, some 27,000 people were on the street," Branislav said.

Many blame the awning's collapse on corruption, which led to sloppy renovation work on the station. The renovation, being part of a broader deal with Chinese state companies involved in several infrastructure projects in Serbia, raised further eyebrows and raised questions about adherence to standards, too.

Although the protests were peaceful and aimed at demanding justice for the victims, "the police started using tear gas and beating up protesters," Branislav recalled. Random arrests, including his own, soon followed the violence, he added.

"Some activists were detained. Some were sentenced to prison, while others were given 30-day sentences, but they were later released after about 20 days, because no (proof of) criminal activity was found", Branislav explained. 

"They accused me of tearing a Serbian flag, but there was no evidence," he claimed.

After four hours, he was released without charge, as video footage showed he was not involved in anything illegal. "The protests continued from that day onward," Branislav said. 

At the protests in Novi Sad over the following weekends, roads were blocked, and protesters painted red handprints on buildings across the city, symbolising the blood of the victims on the government's hands.

Additionally, 15 minutes of silence — one minute for each life — were held at different locations across Serbia every