Serbia's striking university students are reading, playing sports or games, or just hanging out, to pass the time they are spending outside in long protest blockades. Students spent more than a day on a bridge blockade in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad at the weekend. They slept in tents in a park and spent much of Sunday camping outside.
Teodora Kilibarda, who came to Novi Sad from the capital, Belgrade , played volleyball on Sunday with several other students in a park teeming with young people. University students are leading the anti-graft demonstrations in Serbia which erupted after a concrete canopy crashed at the central train station in Novi Sad on Nov.
The protests have drawn huge crowds into the streets demanding justice over the Novi Sad tragedy which critics blame on sloppy renovation work fueled by government corruption. Student actions in the past weeks included a 2-day walk to Novi Sad, a hour blockade of a key intersection in Belgrade, a New Year's Eve protest and daily demonstrations. Meanwhile, they have camped in campuses for weeks. During Sunday's bridge blockade in Novi Sad, Aleksandar Ilic was throwing darts with a fellow-student on a target hooked to a tree.
We are also having fun. To make it through the cold January days and nights, the students often are offered tea, coffee, pancakes and warm meals by local residents. Some read books to pass the time, others watch movies, play music instruments or sing.
Others said it was nice just to walk around and meet students from other cities who came to Novi Sad to join the blockade. Meanwhile, a photography professor took the opportunity to show the students an old technique and to teach. For Marija Beljkas, a student of photography from Belgrade, the secret is in togetherness. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in.
