Budapest, Nov. 4, (dpa/GNA) – Hundreds of angry protesters took to the streets on Sunday in Serbia’s capital Belgrade against the government following the collapse of a station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, which claimed the lives of 14 people, according to Serbian media reports.
The protesters are blaming government-tolerated corruption for the disaster and are demanding the resignation of Construction Minister Goran Vesić.
In front of the government building, the protesters sprayed red paint and raised their red-coloured hands as a sign that the government “has blood on its hands.”
The accident occurred around midday on Friday. Among the dead are two children born in 2014 and 2018.
Construction was taking place at the time of the collapse, but the Chinese firm responsible for the renovation work under way at the facility said the outdoor canopy was not affected.
President Aleksandar Vučić vowed that those responsible would be punished.
Novi Sad’s main train station was built in 1964 in what was then Yugoslavia.
Serbian media speculated that the cause of the collapse might have been the long-overlooked rust damage to the canopy’s metal supports.
The public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation.
GNA