Serbian farmers join striking university students’ traffic blockade in Belgrade

Serbian farmers joined striking university students in a 24-hour traffic blockade in Belgrade in protest over the fatal collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad last November (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

Serbia’s striking university students launched a 24-hour blockade of a key traffic intersection in the capital, Belgrade, on Monday, stepping up pressure on the authorities over a deadly canopy collapse in November that killed 15 people.

Serbian farmers on tractors and thousands of citizens joined the blockade which followed weeks of protests demanding accountability over the deadly accident in the northern city of Novi Sad that critics have blamed on rampant government corruption.