Anti-government protesters blame rampant corruption for roof crash that killed 14 people in Serbia

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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Anti-government protesters in Serbia on Monday demanded arrests and the resignations of top officials over the deadly collapse of a concrete roof at a railway station that killed 14 people in a northern city this month.

The rally in Belgrade blamed the collapse on rampant corruption and sloppy renovation work on the station building in Novi Sad — part of a wider deal with Chinese state companies involved in a number of infrastructure projects in the Balkan country.

Borislav Novakovic, a former mayor of Novi Sad, accused the ruling populists of “filling their bloody pockets while filling cemeteries in Serbia.” The state was “responsible for the crime that took 14 lives,” he added. The crowd chanted “jail” in response.

The several thousand protesters demanded that Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and his government step down and that those responsible for the collapse be arrested.

Authorities have opened an investigation and Serbia’s construction minister submitted his resignation last week, but no one has been charged or detained in connection with Nov. 1 accident.

Monday’s rally was peaceful, unlike one last week in Novi Sad when masked people threw rocks, bottles and red paint at City Hall after thousands marched peacefully. Police used tear gas against the rioters.

Government officials have promised full accountability, but there is widespread skepticism because the populists control both the police and the judiciary.

The train station, originally built in 1964, has been renovated twice in recent years and was inaugurated by Serbia’s 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.