NOVI SAD, Serbia, Feb 1, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Thousands of students were set to block roads and occupy bridges in Serbia's Novi Sad on Saturday to mark three months since the fatal collapse of a train station roof in the city sparked an anti-corruption movement.

The demonstration is the latest in a series of mass protests to rock the Balkan country in the wake of the train station disaster that killed 15 people in the northern Serbian city in November. 

The university student-led movement has poured increasing pressure on the government, spurring the resignation of several high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Milos Vucevic earlier this week. 

The premier's resignation came after a 24-hour blockade at a major traffic intersection in the capital Belgrade that had been preceded days before by a general strike that saw schools and small businesses close across the country.

The tragedy in Novi Sad, which came after extensive train station renovations, has fuelled long-standing anger in Serbia over corruption and the alleged lack of oversight in construction projects.

University students have emerged as the leaders of the protest movement and have been blockading campuses across the country for weeks. 

President Aleksandar Vucic and other government officials have swung between issuing calls for talks and firing off allegations that the demonstrators were being backed by foreign powers.

To quell the protests, the government has sought to meet several of the student organisers' demands. 

Those measures have included releasing a raft of documents related to the renovations at the station, pardoning protesters arrested at rallies, boosting funding of higher education, and launching criminal proceedings against suspects accused of attacking demonstrators. 

But Bojan Klacar -- the director of CeSID, an organisation monitoring elections in Serbia -- said meeting many of the protesters' demands may not be enough to satisfy the students.

"It has become a broader movement where deeper, systemic changes... are being demanded," Klacar told AFP. 

Ahead of Saturday's rally, hundreds of students left Belgrade on Thursday for a two-day march to Novi Sad.

They have been greeted by residents in villages and towns along the 80-kilometre (50-mile) route. 

"I am walking to pay tribute to all the victims of the great tragedy that took place in Novi Sad," one student told AFP as they departed Belgrade. 

Tensions have flared occasionally in Serbia in recent weeks with violence breaking out at some protests, with students accusing pro-government hooligans of targeting demonstrations.