Bosnian students rally for justice, drawing inspiration from anti-graft struggle in Serbia

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Students rallied in Bosnia on Monday to demand accountability for deadly floods last year in a protest inspired by massive anti-corruption gatherings by fellow students that have paralyzed neighboring Serbia.

Strikes and blockades of roads and bridges by students in Serbia in the wake of the Nov. 1 collapse of a railway station canopy that killed 15 people have garnered support throughout the troubled Balkan region, which was devastated by a series of wars in the 1990s as the former Yugoslavia broke apart.

Protest rallies have also been held in Montenegro, while gatherings in Croatia and Slovenia have expressed support for the Serbian students.

“As we can see in Serbia, the protests there are effective because they are massive, other people are joining the students and they are persistent,” said Sarajevo student Sumeja Durakovic.

Student solidarity illustrates shared grievances in the Balkan nations plagued by graft and complaints of incompetence and mismanagement. Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro all are seeking European Union entry but reforms in the countries have been slow.

Serbian protests were ignited by the collapse of the concrete canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad, which critics blamed on government corruption, and snowballed into rage and demands for change that have challenged populist President Aleksandar Vucic, who has ruled Serbia with a tight grip for more than a decade.

In Bosnia, the protest in the capital, Sarajevo demanded answers over the deaths of 29 people in devastating floods last October, when most of the victims perished in a single village that was buried in rubble from a nearby quarry that reportedly was illegally built on a hill above.

Holding banners reading “Crime without punishment,” and chanting “We won’t stop!” the students insisted on criminal responsibility for those who failed to prevent the disaster they say could have been avoided.

“They weren’t killed by the rain or rocks, but by negligence of the authorities and institutions, which had not acted preventively and with responsibility toward our lives, our homes, the nature,” the students said in a statement.

“Four months have passed and no one was held accountable for the deaths of 29 of our fellow-citizens,” they added.

In Montenegro, which borders both Bosnia and Serbia, students have launched protests to seek the ouster of top security officials over two separate shootings in less than three years when gunmen killed 23 people, including children.

The shooting spree on New Year’s Day left 13 people dead before the attacker killed himself. It left Montenegrins asking why no action was taken after the first fatal shooting in 2022, which claimed 10 lives, among them two children. The gunman was eventually killed by a passerby.

An organizer, Milo Perovic said it was important to follow “waves of boldness” coming from Serbia.

Protests in Montenegro include daily silent blockades lasting 23 minutes to commemorate the shooting victims, just as the Serbian students honor the 15 victims of the canopy fall each day.

In Sarajevo, Lamija Fuka said she believed that “we, the students, can get together and change the society and our corrupt system … put an end to all of this.”

The time is right, she added, “to wake up and for young people to finally react to what (political leaders) have been doing to us for the past 30 years.”

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Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Serbia, and Predrag Milic in Montenegro contributed to this report.