Serbian students cycle hundreds of miles to take their grievances to the EU

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Serbian university students who say their fight for justice is being overlooked in much of Europe arrived to a hero’s welcome Tuesday in the heart of the European Union. They cycled more than 1,300 kilometers (780 miles) from the Balkan country.

Around 80 students who set off on bicycles 13 days ago on a journey to Strasbourg, France, were aiming to draw EU attention to their monthslong protests against corruption in the Balkan nation. Serbia is formally seeking membership in the 27-nation bloc but has been backsliding in democratic freedoms and the rule of law.

They received an emotional welcome from hundreds of people, including members of the Serbian diaspora and French students and supporters upon arriving at the main square in Strasbourg where the European Parliament meets.

“I think that this protest action is a full success,” one of the cyclists said in a live N1 TV broadcast from Strasbourg where people gathered. “I think we have woken up Europe.”

Serbian university students have been a key force behind a nationwide anti-graft movement that includes almost daily street demonstrations that have rattled the Balkan nation’s President Aleksandar Vucic. While they have garnered huge support at home and throughout the Balkans, many students feel they haven’t received enough backing from the EU.

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The students cycled 100-150 kilometers (60-90 miles) per day through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany before reaching Strasbourg where they received a red carpet welcome from Serbs living abroad and fellow-students from the EU.

They braved heavy rain and chilling temperatures along their journey across Europe that included a hero’s welcome by supporters in Budapest, Vienna and in German towns.

The student-led protests in Serbia were triggered by the deaths of 16 people in a deadly train station canopy collapse in November, widely blamed on rampant corruption. They have since come to reflect wider discontent with the state of democratic freedoms in Serbia.

The protesting students have been demanding justice for the victims of the Nov. 1 canopy collapse and an end to government pressure and violence against protesters.

Vucic and his pro-government media have accused the students and their professors of working against the state to topple him from power together with unidentified Western security services. He has not provided any evidence for his claims.

The EU’s reaction to the mostly peaceful student-led protests has been lukewarm and officials have refrained from criticizing Vucic. They apparently consider him a key factor in maintaining peace in a region that went through a series of devastating wars in the 1990s.

In Strasbourg, the students plan to visit the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

Since coming to power over a decade ago, Vucic has been accused of stifling democratic freedoms while maintaining close links with Russia and China.

In Serbia on Tuesday, student-led protesters temporarily blocked the entrances to Vucic’s main propaganda TV broadcaster RTS in Belgrade and the northern town of novi sad to protest its coverage of the events.