It was November 1, just before noon, in the Serbian city of Novi Sad. Djordje Firic was walking to the train station with his granddaughters – five-year old Sara and nine-year old Tina.
They arrived and sat down on a bench to wait for their train. At 11:50 a concrete canopy collapsed on to the crowd of waiting travellers, killing 14 people.
The news paralysed us at first – but then came the anger. People here are fed up with excuses and want someone to be tried and convicted for this crime. Serbians are beginning to feel unsafe. If this can happen to people just sitting waiting for a train, it can happen to anyone, anywhere.
This is a country where public officials seem to have total immunity. “Corruption kills” was one of the slogans at the protest held at the ruined rail station. And that slogan hits home perfectly.
Novi Sad station was recently renovated as part of a Chinese-led upgrade of Serbia’s railway infrastructure and the ruling party bragged about it in the 2022 election campaign. In July this year the local authorities declared the station had been rebuilt – a second time – claiming that it was the “prettiest station” in the country.
In recent years a construction boom has hit our country, with ground being broken everywhere on new projects. The Serbian president has made it a central part of his PR effort, as he now presents himself as the man who gets things done.
Previous suggestions that some of these new building projects were poorly done and grossly overpriced so that companies linked to the ruling party could fill their pockets were dismissed. Perhaps those arguments will now gain more traction. The horrific tragedy in Novi Sad is a direct consequence of a corrupt system created by a ruling party that has run the country for more than a decade.
The renovation of the city railway station is a textbook example. A web of subcontractors linked to ruling party members were handed piles of taxpayers’ money. The construction deal was given to a Chinese consortium – but the terms of the contract were kept secret. In a final twist, oversight of the works was carried out by a Hungarian company linked to Viktor Orbán. One expert who worked on the renovation quit over the cost-cutting.
So far, only the minister for construction has resigned, although he claimed he felt no responsibility. But the people now want more.
The protests outside the city hall in Novi Sad on November 5 were huge. The crowd demanded the resignation of the mayor and the prime minister.
The pro-government media portrayed the protests as mindless violence, and the police made several arrests.
Serbians want this culture of impunity to end. There are a lot of angry young people who are becoming increasingly fed up. They want to live in a decent country, where they have a future. But here in Serbia, the ruling party always seems to dodge responsibility.
But that has to stop. The people responsible for this outrage must account for their crimes. The memory of Sara, Tina and their grandpa demands nothing less.
Saša Dragojlo is a Serbian investigative journalist
