Serbians hold silent protest to honour railway station victims

By Ivana Sekularac

NIS, Serbia (Reuters) - Thousands stood in silence for 15 minutes in the southern city of Nis on Saturday to commemorate those killed in a railway station disaster, in a student-led protest that has grown into the biggest threat yet to the Serbian president's grip on power.

In the four months since 15 people were killed when a roof collapsed at a newly-renovated train station in Serbia's second-biggest city of Novi Sad, mass demonstrations have gathered momentum.

As many Serbians have blamed the tragedy on corruption they link to President Aleksandar Vucic's decade in power, teachers, farmers and other workers have joined the protests that began with a student blockade of classes at state universities in December.

"We want to have a better country, without corruption in which educated people will be respected," said Ana, a 20-year-old medicine student who drove to Nis from the central city of Kragujevac.

Hundreds of students marched, ran or rode bikes to Nis, visiting various towns on their way, and gaining the support of people living outside the country's urban centres.

"This is the way to make a revolution," Tarek, a 22-year-old graphics designer from Novi Pazar said. "It is the right way to achieve the change, to create a better future, a functional state without corruption."

Vucic's government has said it will launch an anti-corruption campaign, and has also denied allegations of corruption.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and two other ministers have resigned over the protests that have taken place in the capital Belgrade as well as in towns across the country.

Prosecutors have charged 13 people in connection with the roof collapse.

But the students have continued daily protests, pressing their demands that authorities publish documents relating to the station roof collapse and justice for those responsible. They also want charges against the protesting students to be dismissed, and an increased budget for higher education.

Nenad Maslakovic, a 51-year-old farmer from a village near Nis, and his 21-year-old son Avram, put up a stand offering fruit, coffee, pancakes and barbecued meat to protesters for free.

"Students are unspoiled souls. We want to welcome them and to support them to sustain in their struggle," Maslakovic said.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; editing by Barbara Lewis)