Serbian Protest Cyclists Left Austria Behind

The Serbian protest cyclists, who were received with great jubilation in Vienna on Monday evening, left Austria again on Friday morning after a four-day journey through Austria, which took them to other stops in Emmersdorf (district of Melk), Linz, and Salzburg to the German border. Their destination is the eastern French city of Strasbourg, where they want to draw attention to the concerns of the Serbian democracy movement at the European institutions.

"Race for Justice" with 13 Stages

The cyclists are expected in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The "Race for Justice" has a total of 13 stages, covering almost 1,500 kilometers. The 80 students from Serbian universities started on Thursday of the previous week. The largest reception so far was in Vienna, where they were celebrated like Olympic champions by about 2,000 people at Maria-Theresien-Platz late on Monday evening.

The cyclists made their last stop in Austria on Thursday in Salzburg. There, several hundred people cheered them in the Mirabell Gardens. As in Vienna, they arrived with some delay after cycling about 130 kilometers from Linz, one of the longest daily stages. Almost a third of the total tour - around 400 kilometers - took them through Austria. By Friday noon, according to their own live tracking, the group was already at Lake Waging in Bavaria, and in the evening they were expected to reach the metropolis of Munich. The further overnight stops in Germany on the way to Strasbourg are Ulm, Stuttgart, and Karlsruhe.

Serbian Government Under Pressure

The message of the cyclists is clear, namely that of political change in Serbia, whose government has come under massive pressure after the death of 16 people due to the collapse of a train station roof in Novi Sad. They are on their way to Strasbourg to bring about political change, said 19-year-old Petar after his arrival in Vienna in an APA interview. From Austria and Europe, he expects one thing above all: "Let (Serbian President Aleksandar, note) Vučić fall. Raise your voice."

The trigger for the protests was the collapse of the train station roof in Novi Sad on November 1. Prime Minister Miloš Vučević and two ministers have resigned due to the disaster, which was presumably caused by corruption. Students have been blocking state universities for months. The protest movement reached its previous peak in mid-March with a mass rally in Belgrade, which ended abruptly. Participants then accused the authorities of using a banned sound cannon.

(APA/Red)

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