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.
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.
Vučić holds Jagodina rally
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 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.”
Vučić also called for a dialogue with the striking students who have received widespread support across Serbia, at the same time weakening popular support for his party.
The students have rejected negotiations on their demands with Vučić.
At his rally in Jagodina, Vučić 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,” Vučić 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 protesters have repeatedly been physically attacked by unknown pro-government figures.
The 15-minute traffic blockades on Friday started at 11:52am, 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 state-run institutions on Friday.
Protests marches were held Friday in Belgrade, Novi Sad, the southern city of Nis and other smaller cities, including in Jagodina before Vučić’s arrival.
“Things can’t stay the same anymore,” actor Goran Susljik told N1 regional television. “Students have offered us the possibility of change.”
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 Vesić has been released from detention, fuelling 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.
