Woman hurt as car ploughs into crowd of anti-government protesters in Serbia
16 January 2025, 14:04
Police said they detained the driver and that he was being charged with attempted murder.
A driver rammed his car into a crowd in Belgrade and seriously injured a young woman on Thursday.
It happened during daily student-led protests and traffic blockades that have been held throughout Serbia following the collapse in November of a concrete canopy in the country’s north that killed 15 people.
The driver fled the scene after the young woman was thrown onto his car roof before falling to the ground with bleeding head injuries.
N1 television said she was seriously wounded and was taken to hospital in a conscious state. State RTS television sad she was in a stable condition.
Police said they detained the driver and that he was being charged with attempted murder.
Several such incidents have been reported during the protests since the blockades started, but this was the first case to result in a serious injury.
Hundreds of university students were gathering on Thursday in front of the law faculty in Belgrade in a spontaneous protest in support of the injured woman.
They chanted slogans including “Killers” and “You will not be allowed to run us over”.
Residents throughout Serbia have been stopping in silence for 15 minutes almost daily as part of persistent anti-government protests and demands that those responsible for the canopy collapse be punished.
Traffic blockades have taken place daily since November 1 at 11.52am, the exact time the canopy at the railway station building in Novi Sad crashed down on people who were sitting or strolling below.
The station building was renovated twice in recent years. Many in Serbia believe rampant corruption led to sloppy work on the building reconstruction, which was part of a wider railroad project with Chinese state companies.
The collapse also has become a flashpoint for broader dissatisfaction with the growingly autocratic rule of populist President Aleksandar Vucic, reflecting public demands for democratic changes.
Mr Vucic has alleged the student-led protests have been “financed” from abroad to topple him from power by force. He has sided with people who are against the daily protests saying their freedom of movement has been jeopardised with the 15-minute blockades of traffic.
