University students in Serbia have protested outside the Constitutional Court
in Belgrade against what they say are civil rights violations
under the government of Aleksandar Vucic. They also claim
to have come under pressure from the Secret Service.
Pro-government media have published personal data of some of the
protesters, which wouldn't be possible without the. Serbia's
secret service, the the ongoing protests reflect wider discontent
with what they see as President Aleksandar Vucic's increasingly autocratic
rule. Vucic says he wants to steer Serbia towards
European Union membership, but he has faced accusations of
curbing democratic freedoms rather than advancing them. The rally
began with thousands of people standing in silence to commemorate
the victims of a concrete canopy collapse at a railway
station in Novi Sad which killed 15 people. That
incident triggered almost daily anti-corruption protests. Many in Serbia
believe the canopy collapsed in November because of sloppy reconstruction
work that resulted from corruption. Prosecutors have filed charges
against 13 people, including a government minister and several
state officials, but doubts remain about the probe's independence --> .