Sixteen Minutes of Silence, and the Arrest of a Police Chief
Thousands marched in silence through Novi Sad in the rain today, two years after a station canopy collapsed and killed sixteen people — sixteen minutes of silence, sixteen wreaths. Hours earlier, the head of Serbia’s criminal police, whom student groups accuse of brutality against the protests, was arrested over an unrelated case.
The anniversary and the arrest are not connected, and the prosecutor said so explicitly: “this arrest has no link with the result of the legislative elections.” We publish that denial because the temptation to read a purge is obvious and unsupported. He and a colleague are held on suspicion of abuse of office in a matter concerning a former Belgrade police chief, who from custody accused them of giving prosecutors false evidence. What makes it resonate is separate: student groups last week demanded his removal, accusing him of orchestrating violence against demonstrators. The collapse itself happened at 11:52 on a sunny morning; fourteen died at the scene and two later. Thirteen people have been charged, including a government minister, and no trial has been held. An independent expert investigation found the renovation was rushed under political orders. The protests it triggered became the largest since Milosevic fell and ended fourteen years of governing-party rule at last week’s election. One quiet measure of that change: this year, state television broadcast the memorial.