On the way to Novi Sad, the locals welcomed the students with smiles, tears, fireworks, and plenty of food. Beans, roast, rolls, goulash, soup, pancakes - there is nothing that was not on the streets of Belgrade, Batajnica, Nova and Stara Pazova, Inđija
Soup, roast, grandma's cake, pancakes, doughnuts, rolls and cakes - this is only part of the food that the locals used to welcome several hundred students on their protest march from Belgrade to Novi Sad, along an old road that is slightly more than 100 kilometers long.
On Thursday (January 30), the students set off on foot from Novi Belgrade to Novi Sad in the morning hours. Their plan is to, together with their colleagues from Novi Sad, block three bridges on February 1, exactly three months after the deadly fall of the canopy at the Novi Sad train station.
However, students are not alone in this campaign. Apart from those citizens who decided to join them in the protest march, a large number of people took to the streets to greet the students, encourage them and provide them with refreshments, plenty of food and drinks. "Vremena" reporter Katarina Stevanović testified to the touching hospitality, who walked with the students to Novi Sad.
From Zemun to Batajnica
After the first hour of walking, the students reached Zemun. Along the main street of Zemun, people stood and greeted the walkers with applause and banners with the words "Thank you, children". The "children" replied: "Thank you for your support!"
As the students passed through the industrial zone in Batajnica, the workers came out to greet them. Kosta Predić (78) also came out of his yard, which is right next to the road, to greet the students. One of the students ran from the column to hug him.
"Oh, I'm old," Costa told "Vreme", and added: "Otherwise I would have continued with them."
The first serious quantity of food welcomed the students in Batajnica. As the "Vremena" reporter reported, people welcomed the students en masse in Batajnica with bags of food, sweets, juices and fruit. They also set up stalls where they distributed grandma's cakes, juices, muffins and other treats.
Many women offered trays of freshly made pancakes and mekkis, which came out of their kitchens.
"I can't eat this in ten days," said one of the students. And he wasn't the only one. At one point, the young people from the convoy became so overwhelmed with sweets that they started handing them out to children they found with their parents along the road.
Photo: Time
"Home" welcome in Stara Pazova
Although in Nova Pazova the locals greeted the students with loads of food, the winner of the day was Stara Pazova, where a serious feast was prepared earlier in the day. There, the walkers took a longer break and prepared for the last part of today's stage – to Indjija, which is ten kilometers from Stara Pazova.
The students and citizens who joined them will spend the night in Indjija, and they will start the march for the remaining forty kilometers to Novi Sad tomorrow. The students' plan is to camp tonight at the stadium in Indjija.
Stara Pazova did her best to help the students in the last 10 kilometers of today's planned route. At the entrance to the town, fireworks were ready for the walkers. As the "Vremena" reporter reported, the locals welcomed them with beans, roast, barbecue, various savory pastries, hot soup, stew, and there were also pancakes baked on the spot, as well as vegan food.
In a similar manner, the column was welcomed at the end of its journey today.
How much this kind of support meant to students, our reporter Katarina noticed firsthand.
"I'm tired too - I admit it, but I'm still 'driven' by the energy of all these people - both the participants of the walk and, perhaps more, the energy of the locals who welcome us from place to place with increasing enthusiasm. Or because of the fatigue, it seems to me that the ardor is greater," said Katarina.
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