He roof collapse concrete railway station de Novi Sadrecently remodeled by Chinese companies, has opened another wound in Serbia. The tragic event, which occurred on November 1 and claimed the lives of 14 people, has prompted a new wave of protests in the Balkan country, where the denunciation of the opposition Serbia has joined the citizen outrage.
The following demonstrations are planned for the coming days, after the first marches in Novi Sadwhich led to violent altercations street fights between the police and protesters, with nine people arrested. And another protest has also taken place this week in Belgradethe country’s capital, organized by the political opposition under the slogan “Corruption kills.”
“This country has hunger for justice”explained in this context the lawyer Jovan Rajić, one of the organizers, in statements collected by Balkan Insight. “It is necessary that all professional associations, institutions, federations and people collaborate in one of the most important tasks that awaits us: to return to our professions the place they deserve, to restore trust of citizens,” added the president of the Association of Architects of Novi Sad, Ana Ferik Ivanović.
Justice
The reason is the anger unleashed by the incident that affected the infrastructure, which had just reopened to the public in July of this year and whose reconstruction started in 2021after their project was commissioned to a conglomerate chinese companiescomposed of Chinese Railway International and Chinese Communications Construction Company. A Hungarian company (own Viktor Orbán visited the work in 2022) had instead been in charge of supervision.
The situation has also angered citizens because, immediately after the incident, the chinese conglomerate stated that the roof was not part of the restructuring plans, something that was later was denied by a construction consultant. All this while the ongoing judicial investigation has not yet identified those ultimately responsible for the collapse.
An incendiary atmosphere that has already contributed to the resignation of the Minister of Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, although the protesters continue to insist that the authorities in Novi Sad and Miloš Vucevicthe current Serbian prime minister and who was mayor of the city at the time of the railway station’s inauguration. In addition, the protesters also ask that all the construction contractscurrently classified as confidentialand the review of all the large projects carried out in the last decade.
