A group of Serbian students who embarked on a 13-day, 1,400-kilometre bicycle journey from Novi Sad arrived in Strasbourg on April 15, calling on European institutions to break their silence over months of anti-government protests in Serbia and to take a stand on alleged corruption and democratic backsliding.

The students plan to deliver letters to both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament urging European leaders to take action in response to the political crisis in Serbia, which was triggered by the collapse of a newly renovated canopy at the Novi Sad train station last November, killing 16 people.

More than a hundred supporters, including members of the Serbian diaspora from Switzerland, France and Germany, gathered at Kleber and Gutenberg squares to welcome the cyclists. Serbian flags waved above the crowd as banners bearing the word "Pumpaj" – meaning “keep going” – filled the square. A red carpet was laid to mark the students’ arrival.

Their mission, organisers say, is to bring international attention to what they see as a cover-up and systemic corruption that led to the disaster, and to demand accountability from Serbian authorities.

Since November, Serbia has been gripped by the largest wave of civil unrest since the 1990s. Sparked by outrage over the train station collapse, the protests have grown into a broader anti-government movement driven by students. Demonstrators have blocked university buildings and staged mass rallies in major cities, drawing hundreds of thousands of participants.

Public frustration has been exacerbated by what protesters view as the EU’s muted response and continued support for President Aleksandar Vucic. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU officials have visited Belgrade in recent months for high-level talks with Vucic, while Gert Jan Koopman, director-general for EU enlargement negotiations, praised Serbia’s progress in January and declared on X that the country was on “the right track” toward EU membership.

To many in the protest movement, the EU’s ongoing cooperation with Vucic stands in stark contrast to its professed support for democratic values.

Meanwhile, the protest movement in Serbia continues to escalate. On April 14 and 15, students staged surprise demonstrations, blocking entrances to the buildings of the national broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) in Belgrade and Radio Television of Vojvodina (RTV) in Novi Sad, accusing them of biased reporting. RTS programming continued to air uninterrupted.

In a bid to discredit the student-led movement, Vucic has oscillated between calls for dialogue and accusations that the demonstrators are attempting to stage a "colour revolution".

Despite the government’s attempts to discredit the protests, they have been forced to make concessions. The prime minister resigned earlier this year, bringing down the government with him, and another minister is facing prison time.

As the students now turn to the European stage, their message is clear: international institutions must no longer look away. Their appeal to the EU, they say, is not just about Serbia, but about the values the bloc claims to uphold.

How the protesters believe the EU should intervene is another matter. As bne IntelliNews has argued, any form of intervention would likely be met with more accusations of Western meddling, which has never gone down well with Serbs.