Students from six different regions arrived in Novi Sad, where on Saturday the anniversary will be marked of the tragedy in which 16 people lost their lives when the canopy at the city’s Railway Station collapsed.
For days, numerous students and citizens from all parts of Serbia have been walking toward the major commemorative gathering.
The first to arrive in Novi Sad were those who set out first — students from Novi Pazar — who celebrated an engagement near the final destination.
After them, two groups of cyclists arrived — from Bačka Palanka and Belgrade — followed by walkers from Bačka Palanka and a group from western Serbia.
Walkers who started from Subotica, as well as those from Vršac and Zrenjanin, joined together and entered the city as one, while the last to arrive was the largest group — the column that had set out from Belgrade two days earlier.
“We thought we were going to die during the last five kilometers, but now we could go another 80,” said the students who walked from Belgrade.
One student remarked that it was symbolic the bridge is called the Bridge of Freedom, and the boulevard — the Boulevard of Liberation. When asked what that made them, he replied, “well, some kind of liberators.”
Reporters from N1 conveyed that the welcome was extremely emotional. Along with the familiar chant “pumpaj” (“pump it up”), the people of Novi Sad greeted them with a line from the TV show Vratiće se rode — “Hey, where are you, Belgradians.”
“Greetings to my grandma, I made it. We’re not tired, we’ll see each other tomorrow in Novi Sad and remember the reason why 16 people lost their lives — and that is corruption and this government, which we will replace,” said one female student walking from Belgrade.
One of the students from Kosovo and Metohija, from the University of Priština, also addressed the crowd.
“A year has passed, and we still have no one held accountable for the deaths of 16 innocent people. I only want to comfort the families of the victims and tell them: ‘Christ is Risen,’” said the student.
All together, they marched to the Railway Station, where they concluded the gathering with 16 minutes of silence.
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Source: N1, Foto: R.Z. / ATAImages