In Novi Sad, the anniversary of the tragedy at the railway station was marked, when 16 people died in the fall of the canopy, while one person was seriously injured. Thousands of demonstrators laid flowers and lit candles to honor the victims.
Tens of thousands of people marched in silence from 16 symbolic locations in the city to the Railway Station building, where they paid their respects to the victims.
At the head of the procession that filled the central city boulevard, the participants of the meeting carried a black flag with the names of those who died, whose names were read before the 16-minute silence began at 11:52, when the canopy of the Railway Station in Novo, Sad fell.
The official part of the commemoration ended tonight at 7:52 p.m., when a 16-minute silence was held to honor the dead.
“Novi Sad remembers with pain and silence,” one of the march participants told reporters.
Mother of man killed in canopy collapse announces hunger strike
Dijana Hrka, mother of Stefan Hrka, who died in the collapse of a concrete canopy, announced today that she is starting a hunger strike.
“I am embarking on this fight alone, by going on a hunger strike. I need to know who killed my child and who killed 16 people. I will go on a hunger strike in front of the City Hall, across from ‘Ćacilende’ in Belgrade,” Hrka said in a speech at a commemorative rally in Novi Sad, adding:
“I am fighting so that none of us will ever cry again. I will only tell Aleksandar Vučić to call elections.”
Serbian citizens in the diaspora are holding commemorative rallies around the world, which began in more than 60 cities at 11:52 a.m. local time.
A large number of citizens and students from all parts of Serbia have been walking to Novi Sad for days to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. Columns of cars are still arriving in Novi Sad from all directions today.
At the same time, the Serbian state leadership, led by President Aleksandar Vučić, attended the memorial service for the victims of the tragedy at 11 a.m. today, which was served at the Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade by the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije.
Let us recall that several thousand citizens in Novi Sad late last night, with 16 minutes of silence, remembered the 16 victims who died on November 1 last year in the collapse of a canopy. Citizens and students laid 16 wreaths, one for each victim killed in the tragedy, BHRT writes.
