Protesting students cleaned up Niš after the multi-thousand-strong 18-hour blockade in memory of the 15 victims of the Novi Sad tragedy, who died last year after the concrete canopy of the railway station in the northern Serbian city collapsed, BTA reports.
After hours of demonstrations, performances and actions in the largest city in southern and eastern Serbia, the students returned to their faculties in volunteer taxis.
"The whole of Serbia arrived in Niš," Djordje Jovanović told BTA, adding that he was proud to have been part of the event yesterday, which turned into, in his words, "a celebration of freedom and justice."
On the evening of March 1, it took the BTA correspondent and photographer in Serbia half an hour to walk the short distance from "King Milan" Square to the Niš Fortress due to the crowd of many thousands, the number of which grew as the end of the 18-hour blockade approached at 3 a.m.
There are no official figures on the number of protesters in Niš from the Serbian Ministry of the Interior.
Non-governmental organizations in Serbia report that the number of people present on March 1 in Niš was between 200,000 and 300,000.
During a tour of Serbia, President Aleksandar Vučić told his supporters that around 16,500 people had gathered in Niš.
Vučić commented that support for the students had decreased, which, in his words, "will lead to haste, mistakes and radicalization of the protests".
The blockade in Niš is the fourth after similar events in other university cities in Serbia - Novi Sad, Belgrade and Kragujevac.
The next major protest is scheduled for March 15 in Belgrade.
Students organized themselves in blockades and suspension of classes in over 60 faculties in the country after their colleagues from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade were attacked at the end of November last year during an action in memory of the 15 victims in Novi Sad, where on November 1 the concrete canopy of the railway station collapsed.
Due to the tragedy in Novi Sad on November 5 last year, the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Construction, Goran Vesic, resigned. After him, the Minister of Trade, Tomislav Momirović, also resigned from his post, but both said they did not take responsibility for what happened.
On December 30, the Supreme Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad charged Vesić and 12 other officials with a serious crime against public safety and improper execution of construction work. If found guilty, they could receive up to 12 years in prison.
In February, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, which has the authority to investigate criminal offenses with corruption elements, took over the case file.