(Belgrade) Plusieurs milliers de personnes ont manifesté lundi soir à Belgrade à l’appel de l’opposition pour réclamer la démission du premier ministre Milos Vucevic, dix jours après la mort de 14 personnes dans un effondrement meurtrier dans une gare.
Publié hier à 14 h 56
Ces quatorze personnes, dont plusieurs mineurs, ont été écrasées sous des tonnes de béton de l’auvent de la gare de Novi Sad, quelques mois seulement après la fin de la reconstruction d’une partie du bâtiment.
L’accident a ravivé la colère d’une partie de la population, lasse de la corruption et du népotisme d’une partie de la classe politique, lui imputant la responsabilité du drame.
« Onze jours après cette tragédie, ces meurtres, personne n’a été arrêté […] Eleven days were not enough to establish the chain of responsibility,” one of the organizers of the rally, Smiljan Banjac, told the crowd.
” Prison ! Prison ! », replied the demonstrators gathered despite the cold and the pouring rain, noted AFP journalists.
“They weren’t in an accident, it wasn’t an accident. They were killed. They were killed by corruption, by crime,” lawyer Jovan Rajic said from a platform.
“People whose hands are stained with blood, who commit crimes and who have no shame are in power,” added Pavle Cicvanovic, of the student organization “Borba” (“Combat”).
Construction Minister Goran Vesic resigned on Friday, but the protests have not stopped.
Around 20,000 people gathered on Friday in Novi Sad, a demonstration punctuated by incidents. Fourteen people accused of attacking the town hall, breaking windows and throwing incendiary objects, were arrested.
“Those who demanded accountability ended up in prison […] and those who are responsible for the deaths of people are walking among us,” denounced Pavle Cicvanovic on Monday, asking, like the demonstrators, for their release.
Invited in the evening on the set of a television station close to the regime, the Prime Minister accused the opposition of “abusing the tragedy” and of wanting to “take power without elections”.
He also announced other resignations “in the coming days” for “political responsibility”.
“What happened is horrible and we can’t just move on from it. It is obvious that there were failings,” Mr Vucevic said.
