KRAGUJEVAC, Serbia -- Thousands of people protested in the Serbian city of Kragujevac on February 15, blocking central streets in the latest in a wave of student-organized demonstrations demanding government accountability for the deaths of 15 people in a canopy collapse at the railway station in Novi Sad in November.
Protesters were joined by students who traveled to Serbia's fourth-largest city on foot as residents served up refreshments to the demonstrators in what was billed as a 15-hour blockade.
The crowd held 15 minutes of silence at 11:52 a.m., the exact time of the concrete canopy collapse on November 1, which has led to what may be the biggest challenge yet to President Aleksandar Vucic's political power.
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Students Lead A Blockade In Serbia's City Of Kragujevac
"We started this fight with one clear goal, which is to fulfill our demands and for the institutions to start doing their work," a philosophy student from Belgrade who came to Kragujevac by bus with fellow students who were hosted by their peers overnight told RFE/RL, declining to give her name for publication.
"The reception was phenomenal," she said.
Student protests over the deadly accident have evolved into a broader movement opposing what demonstrators say is the crumbling rule of law and systemic corruption under Vucic, the president since 2017 and prime minister for three years before that. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest in over 200 cities and towns.
The date and 15-hour length of the protest in the central Serbian city was symbolic because February 15 is Statehood Day, which marks the adoption in 1835 of the first constitution of what was then the Principality of Serbia, a document known as the Constitution of Happiness.
SEE ALSO: Are Serbian Protests Starting To Loosen Vucic's Grip On Power?The 1835 constitution included guarantees of the inviolability of the person, the right to a legal trial, the freedom of movement and residence, the inviolability of the home, and the right to choose an occupation. One of its goals was to limit the overwhelming power of the ruler, Prince Milos Obrenovic.
Later on February 15, thousands of people attended a rally held by Vucic's ruling Progressive Party held a rally in Sremska Mitrovica, a city 80 kilometers west of Belgrade, and Vucic said participants adopted a declaration on the northern province of Vojvodina.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic speaking at rally in Sremska Mitrovica, February 15
Vucic's supporters accuse student protesters of advocating the separation of Vojvodina from Serbia, but the students don't mention it in their demands.
Without providing evidence, Vucic repeated his claims that the protest movement is backed by unnamed forces seeking to overthrow the state in a "color revoloution."
"Serbia is not loved by those who organized those protests and who invested three billion euros in the destruction of Serbia," he said without elaborating on the assertion. "Their goal is to make Serbia weak."
Vucic said the protesting students should think about their future and urged them, "Go back to your classrooms."