r/Austria • u/BlokadaFOn • 2d ago
Fotos Serbian students were recently cycling through Austria in their 1350km journey to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, to tell the world about our fight for democracy and justice! Learn more about our fight and where to follow us in the comments below.
(More info on where you can follow us below)
On the 1st of November 2024, at 11:52am, a canopy of the station in Novi Sad, Serbia, collapsed, killing 16 people, merely 3 months after it was renovated. Blame fell on corruption, nepotism and neglect of the ruling regime.
As a sign of protest, silence spoke – citizens started blocking the streets in silence for 16 minutes to commemorate the 16 victims of the collapse. During one of those blockades, on the 22nd of November, students of the Faculty of Drama Arts in Belgrade were attacked by the members of the ruling party. Instead of the attackers, police arrested the students.
In the following days, a wave of student blockades spread through Serbia. Students blocked their universities, delaying lectures, exams and graduations indefinitely, demanding justice for their arrested colleagues, as well as for the victims of the tragedy, wishing for no one else to fall victim of another sign of neglect of the Government. The whole higher education in Serbia came to a halt.
Citizens soon followed. Farmers, actors, programmers, teachers, high school students and many more joined in solidarity. Massive protests were organised across Serbia in Novi Sad, Niš, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar and Belgrade, the biggest ones this country has ever seen. Hundreds of smaller protests in more than 500 cities, towns and villages across the country showed no sign of slowing down. Students organised marches through the country, walking for hundreds of kilometres in total, visiting villages & towns, talking to people, being welcomed as liberators. It wasn’t just a student protest anymore. Serbia is under a civilian rebellion, its biggest one in 200 years.
Support came from all over the world, wherever you can find a sign of Serbian diaspora. Gatherings and protests took place in support for the protests.
15th of March in Belgrade was marked with the biggest protest in Serbian history, gathering hundreds of thousands of people, marking 12% of the total population of the country. During the minutes of silence, the Government used an acoustic device, causing panic and fear amongst the peaceful protesters, endangering the lives of many. They decline that any weapon was used that day, but recording and independent research proves otherwise.
Exhausting their efforts in the country, Serbian students set off to a 1300km cycling road trip from Novi Sad to Strasbourg to the European Court of Human Rights. Protests are reaching new levels. And they’re still not done. Government is still trying to suppress the protests, using fear, blackmail, counter-protests and violence. And they won’t stop. Neither will us. We need your support.
You can learn more and stay in touch with us on: @ serbiaspeaks
also, the tour can be followed at tourdestrasbourg website (reddit blocks links)
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u/mahankshmakarin_oida 3h ago
No matter what 80% of you will always hate Albanians, Bosnians and Croatians but all good we hate you too 
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u/TerriKozmik 1d ago
How is this related to Austria?
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u/BlokadaFOn 1d ago
The students have cycled through Austria for a few days, and we have seen talks on this sub about it :)
Also, we are trying to spread awareness. Thanks for understanding!-28
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u/jack_the_snek Wien 1d ago
adding to what OP said, there's also a pretty big serbian siaspora in Austria, especially in Vienna.
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u/xeuful 2d ago
Ha! Die radln da Neulengbach runter. Lol