On Friday, at around 7 a.m., students from Belgrade started a relay ultramarathon to Brussels that will cover almost 2,000 kilometres.
They later joined colleagues in Novi Sad and began their joint run from Novi Sad railway station, where 16 people lost their lives after the station’s outdoor canopy collapsed on November 1 last year.
They plan to arrive in Brussels on May 12, when the European Parliament should be in session. Their plan is to deliver letters to the Parliament about the political situation in Serbia, where huge protests against President’s Aleksandar Vucic’s government have continued for five months.
The run should take 18 days, covering 1,933 kilometres and passing through eight countries, including Serbia. Their first stop will be Osijek, eastern Croatia, which they expect to reach on Friday at around 7 p.m.
The run is taking place under the slogan “From my village to Brussels”.
Aleksa Dimitrijevic, a medical student starting the run in Novi Sad, told 021 website that he expects the letter, which details all the major events since the Novi Sad disaster on November 1, 2024, will be read in Brussels, and that “more attention will be given to the deep political and social crisis in Serbia”.
People gathered on Friday morning in front of the building of the public broadcaster, RTS, in Belgrade, greeting the students starting their run. The building has been under a blockade by students and citizens for 11 days.
On day 13, they should reach Strasbourg, where they will take a one-day pause, spent visiting European institutions.
As a relay marathon, not all the students will take part in the entire run. One group will run, while the next group follows in a van and waits its turn to take over.
On April 15, 80 Serbian student cyclists arrived on their bikes in Strasbourg after a 13-day marathon ride. There, they delivered a letter to the Council of Europe describing the political situation in Serbia since November 1, 2024, when the outdoor canopy of the Chinese-renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people – the tragedy that sparked the ongoing demonstrations for official accountability that have shaken the Serbian government.