Diana Hrka addresses a protest in front of parliament in Belgrade, 5 November 2025. Photo: EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC.
Pupils at 24 high schools in Serbia boycotted classes on Thursday as a sign of support for Dijana Hrka, mother of Stefan Hrka, one of the victims of the Novi Sad railway station disaster in November last year, whose hunger strike near the national parliament building has entered its fifth day.
“In some of the schools, this type of support will be for one day, while in others it will last both today and tomorrow,” the Union of High School Students of Serbia, UNSS, a youth organisation, said on Thursday.
Some of the high school students came in groups on Thursday to the tent where Hrka is staging her hunger strike protest, to show their support for her cause.
Hrks started her strike on November 2, symbolically at 11:52 a.m, the exact time when the external canopy of the railway station collapsed, causing the deaths of 16 people. She is demanding accountability for those responsible for the disaster.
She announced her hunger strike at a big anti-government rally in Novi Sad on November 1, on the first anniversary of the tragedy. She said it was “her own fight that she has to finish”.
“I am starting this fight alone by going on a hunger strike. I have to, it is my obligation, I have to know who killed my child, who killed 16 people, someone has to be held accountable for this,” she said, urging President Aleksandar Vucic to call early elections.
Hrka has issued three demands: for the questioning and trial of all suspects linked to the disaster, the release of all detained student protesters, and snap elections. She has set up a tent near parliament, with security provided by supporters.
On Wednesday evening, the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, also organised a rally that gathered thousands of people outside parliament, many of whom were brought in on buses from other Serbian towns.
SNS leader Milos Vucicevic and parliament speaker Ana Brnabic both addressed the rally. Vucevic called on Hrka to end her hunger strike, and sent the same message to his party colleague, Ugljesa Mrdic, who is also on a hunger strike in front of the parliament, demanding action on the criminal complaint he has filed against the former management of Serbian Railways Infrastructure, a public enterprise.
Mass protests erupted after the November 2024 Novi Sad disaster, and a nationwide movement emerged, led by students, demanding accountability from the authorities.
SNS leader Vucevic resigned as prime minister in January after a student protester was attacked. Two other ministers have also since stepped down. However, although three investigations into the disaster are ongoing, no officials have yet been charged, or sent to trial in connection with the 16 deaths.