Protesters demand arrests over train station roof collapse that killed 14 people in Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Angry protesters on Sunday left red handprints at the entrances of government buildings in the Serbian capital to demand the arrest of officials, two days after a concrete canopy collapsed at a railway station, killing 14 people and injuring three.

Police formed a cordon outside the seat of 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 at police officers outside the building that they are “guarding murderers” and that “your hands are bloody," while holding banners reading “corruption kills” and “we are all under the canopy!”

“Everywhere you can, leave bloody hands so they know their hands are bloody. In every city in Serbia, everywhere you can,” opposition political activist Nikola Ristic said.

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 6-year-old girl. The three injured, who are between 18 and 24 years old, all had to have limbs amputated. They were still in serious condition on Sunday, doctors said.

Funerals for the victims, attended by thousands, have been held in northern Serbia.

The train 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.

“Citizens no longer have anything to lose, they are increasingly becoming aware of this,” said liberal politician Biljana Stojkovic. “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 already have questioned more than two dozen people. But critics believe that justice is unlikely to be served with the populists in firm control of the judicial system and the police.

Officials have insisted that the canopy had not been part of the renovation work, suggesting this was the reason why it collapsed but giving no explanation why this wasn't done.

The Novi Sad railway 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, over two years ago as a major stopover for a planned fast train line between Belgrade and Budapest.