Angry protesters left red handprints at the entrances to government buildings in the Serbian capital on Sunday to demand the arrest of officials after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station in the north of the country, killing 14 people and seriously injuring three others.
Police formed a cordon outside the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure in central Belgrade as several thousand people called for ranking government ministers, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, to immediately step down.
“Arrest, arrest!” chanted the crowd.
They shouted police officers outside the building that they are “guarding murderers” and “your hands are bloody”, while holding banners reading “Corruption kills” and “We are all under the canopy!”
Opposition political activist Nikola Ristic urged: “Everywhere you can, leave bloody hands so they know their hands are bloody. In every city in Serbia, everywhere you can.”
The concrete canopy that ran along the front of the railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed suddenly on Friday, landing on people who were sitting on benches or passing through the building’s entrance.
Surveillance camera footage showed the canopy crashing down in seconds.
The dead included a six-year-old girl.
The three injured, who are aged between 18 and 24, all had to have limbs amputated and were still in serious condition on Sunday, doctors said.
Funerals for the victims, attended by thousands, have been held in northern Serbia.
The railway station has been renovated twice in recent years, and critics of Serbia’s populist government attributed the disaster to rampant corruption, lack of transparency and sloppy renovations. The renovation was part of a wider deal with Chinese construction companies.
Liberal politician Biljana Stojkovic said: “Citizens no longer have anything to lose, they are increasingly becoming aware of this. This is grief combined with anger, despair that is turning into rage.”
Serbia’s populist government has promised a thorough investigation, with prosecutors saying they have already questioned more than two dozen people.
But critics believe justice is unlikely to be served with the populists in firm control of the judicial system and the police.
Officials have insisted the canopy was been part of the renovation work, suggesting this was the reason why it collapsed but giving no explanation as to why.
Novi Sad station was originally built in 1964, while the renovated station was inaugurated by President Aleksandar Vucic and his populist ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, more than two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast railway line between Belgrade and Budapest.
