Serbian mother ends hunger strike, wants to live to join protests

BELGRADE (Reuters) -A Serbian mother on Monday ended her hunger strike over the death of her son in a roof collapse, saying she wanted to stay alive to join other anti-government protesters who were enraged by the disaster.

Dijana Hrka's 27-year-old son Stefan was among 16 people killed last year when a roof on a renovated railway station collapsed in the city of Novi Sad.

Anger over alleged mismanagement and the failure to prosecute anyone has triggered a youth-led protest movement that has ballooned into mass rallies calling for the resignation of President Aleksandar Vucic and early elections.

"I am ending my hunger strike," Hrka, 48, told journalists at the tent where she has been staging her protest outside parliament since November 2. "I can do much more alive."

She said she had invited students involved in the protests to meet her and discuss how to work together in the future.

Months of protests have rattled Vucic's long grip on power.

The protest movement, led by students, academics and opposition leaders, accuses Vucic and his populist nationalist party of presiding over corruption, shoddy public services, nepotism and curbs on media freedoms.

They have denied the accusations. Some have said the collapse could have been an act of terrorism, and have accused the protesters of using the disaster for political ends.

There have been clashes between pro- and anti-government contingents, and more than 10,000 of Vucic's supporters rallied in the capital Belgrade earlier this month.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Andrew Heavens)