{"id":43228,"date":"2025-04-23T07:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T07:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/43228\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T07:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T07:18:11","slug":"fireworks-as-thousands-greet-serbian-students-who-cycled-to-france-seeking-eu-support-for-protests-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/43228\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks as thousands greet Serbian students who cycled to France seeking EU support for protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people greeted on Tuesday a group of Serbian university students who had cycled more than 1,300 kilometers (780 miles) this month to draw European Union attention to their struggle against corruption<\/a> in the Balkan country.<\/p>\n

Fireworks, drums and whistles echoed through the northern city of Novi Sad as some 80 students symbolically received medals and walked a red carpet in a joyous recognition of their effort<\/a> in early April.<\/p>\n

The 13-day cycling trip from Novi Sad to Strasbourg, France, aimed to garner support in the EU for monthslong student-led protests<\/a> seeking justice for the 16 victims of a deadly train station canopy collapse in the city in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe symbolically showed the determination and persistence of our generation to fight for a better tomorrow and a future that we deserve,\u201d one of the students told the cheering crowd in Novi Sad.<\/p>\n

The nationwide anti-graft movement led by the students has rattled increasingly authoritarian President Aleksandar Vucic<\/a>. While they enjoy huge support at home and in the Balkan region, Serbia\u2019s protesting students feel they haven\u2019t received enough backing from the EU.<\/p>\n

Serbia is formally seeking membership in the 27-nation bloc but has been backsliding in democratic freedoms and the rule of law. The EU\u2019s reaction to the mostly peaceful student-led protests has been lukewarm and officials have refrained from publicly criticizing Vucic.<\/p>\n

While in Strasbourg<\/a>, a student delegation met with officials from the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. Along the way, the Serbian students passed through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany before reaching France.<\/p>\n

Many in Serbia blamed the Novi Sad train station canopy collapse<\/a> on rampant corruption. The protesting students have been demanding punishment for those responsible for the Nov. 1 tragedy and an end to government pressure and violence against<\/a> protesters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NOVI SAD, Serbia (AP) \u2014 Thousands of people greeted on Tuesday a group of Serbian university students who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[8502,6502,2575,2000,299,1699,36,4179,285,13216,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-43228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-accidents","9":"tag-aleksandar-vucic","10":"tag-corruption","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","18":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114386062776420390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}