Serbian students rally against government, refute claims of Western funding

The protests initially erupted last month after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad killing 15 people.

Transcript

00:00Hundreds of protestors have staged a rally outside Serbia state television headquarters

00:07in Belgrade, as the wave of demonstrations against the government of Aleksandar Vucic

00:12continues to grow. The protestors say they are angry that RTS television is carrying

00:17Vucic's allegations that the students were paid by the West to overthrow his government.

00:23They brought improvised money bags to the headquarters of RTS, which has been accused

00:27of spreading the nationalist pro-government narrative for years. Classes at more than

00:3240 university faculties throughout Serbia have been suspended for days.

00:38The protests initially erupted last month after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway

00:43station in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 15 people. Many in Serbia blame the

00:48canopy collapse on rampant corruption in the country that led to sloppy renovation work

00:53at the station building. The disaster has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction

00:59with the president's increasingly autocratic rule, reflecting public demands for democratic

01:04changes. Almost daily protests have been held since the first of November in Novi Sad, Belgrade

01:10and other cities across Serbia, which have sometimes turned violent.