Serbian students refuse to end protest over fatal station collapse

Belgrade: Serbian students on Thursday refused to end a widespread blockade of higher education institutions, despite government claims it had met one...

Belgrade: Serbian students on Thursday refused to end a widespread blockade of higher education institutions, despite government claims it had met one of their key demands after a deadly railway station roof collapse.

Students have mounted regular protests calling for the release of documents relating to works on the station in the city of Novi Sad last month that killed 15 people aged between six and 74.

The government said on Thursday it had now put all the documentation in the public domain and accepted a separate demand from students to increase higher-education funding by 20 percent.

But doors remained shut at nearly 40 or a third of state faculties across the country and classes were cancelled.

"The blockade will continue as long as there is a need to draw attention to important demands that have still not been met," David Makarin, a student at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences, told AFP.