Tens of thousands of people are converging on the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad for a commemoration of the victims of a tragedy a year ago that killed 16 people.

Regular student-led protests have gripped Serbia since the collapse of the canopy at the newly renovated railway station in the country’s second largest city on November 1, 2024, which became a symbol of entrenched corruption.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

Students, who called for the “largest commemorative gathering” on Saturday, and others, have been pouring into Novi Sad since Friday, arriving by car, bicycle, or on foot.

Thousands marched from Belgrade for some 100km (62 miles) and other parts of the country, including Novi Pazar, about 340km (210 miles) south of the capital. It took them 16 days to finish the march.

Residents of Novi Sad took to the streets to greet the marchers, blowing whistles and waving flags, many visibly moved.

Reporting from the city on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said local residents have provided marchers with food and shelter.

She added the student organisers of the event have stressed they want it to be peaceful and only about the victims, rather than the country’s politics.

‘I am looking for justice’

Dijana Hrka’s 27-year-old son was among the victims.

“What I want to know is who killed my child so I can have a little peace, so that I don’t keep going through hell,” she told Al Jazeera.

Hrka added: “I am looking for justice. I want no other mother to go through what I am going through.”

The protests over the station’s collapse have led to the resignation of the prime minister, the fall of his government and the formation of a new one. But nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic has remained defiantly in office.

Vucic regularly labelled demonstrators as foreign-funded coup plotters, while members of his SNS party pushed conspiracy theories, claiming that the train station roof collapse may have been an orchestrated attack.

But in a televised public address on Friday, Vucic made a rare gesture and apologised for saying things that, he said, he now regretted.

“This applies both to students and to protesters, as well as to others with whom I disagreed. I apologise for that,” Vucic said and called for dialogue.

Saturday’s commemorative rally at the Novi Sad railway station will start at 11:52am (10:52 GMT), the time when the tragedy occurred, with 16 minutes of silence observed for 16 victims.

Thirteen people, including former construction minister Goran Vesic, were charged in a criminal case over the collapse.

A separate anticorruption probe continues alongside a European Union-backed investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds in the project.

‘Sky high’ corruption

The government has declared Saturday a day of national mourning while the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Patriarch Porfirije, is to serve a mass for the victims at the Belgrade Saint Sava church.

“On this sad anniversary, we appeal to everyone … to act with restraint, to de-escalate tensions and to avoid violence,” the EU delegation in Serbia said in a statement.

Aleksandar Popov, a Serbian political analyst, told Al Jazeera that “sky-high” corruption is a major issue in the country that needs to be addressed.

“We’re not talking about tens of millions of euros, but hundreds of millions of euros spun through large infrastructure projects, perhaps billions of euros,” he said.

“This government and the president have captured all key institutions of state, like the judiciary,” he added.

The protests have remained largely peaceful, but, in mid-August, they degenerated into violence that protesters blamed on heavy-handed tactics by government loyalists and police.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election, securing another term in office amid days of unrest across the country.

According to the electoral commission, Samia won 98% of the votes, nearly sweeping the 32 million ballots cast in Wednesday’s election.

International observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread turmoil that has reportedly left hundreds people dead and hundreds injured.

The nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the death toll. The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence – and authorities have extended a curfew in a bid to quell the unrest.

“I hereby announce Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election under the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party,” Jacobs Mwambegele, the electoral chief, said while announcing the results on Saturday morning.

Samia secured about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, with turnout nearing 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters, the electoral chief said.

In Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar – which elects its own government and leader – CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi, who is the incumbent president, won with nearly 80% of the vote.

The opposition in Zanzibar said there had been “massive fraud”, the AP news agency reported.

Mwinyi’s swearing-in ceremony is under way at Amaan Complex stadium in Zanzibar.

Protests continued on Friday, as demonstrators in the port city of Dar es Salaam and other cities took to the streets, tearing down Samia’s posters and attacking police and polling stations despite warnings from the army chief to end the unrest.

No protests were reported on Saturday morning, but tension remained high in Dar es Salaam streets, where security forces manned roadblocks across the city.

The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters, who have denounced the election as unfair.

They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing the main opposition leaders – one is in jail and another was excluded on technical grounds.

A spokesperson from the opposition Chadema party on Friday told AFP news agency that “around 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit has described the violence as a “few isolated pockets of incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation”.

There were two main opposition contenders – Tundu Lissu, who is being held on treason charges, which he denies, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party – but he was excluded on legal technicalities.

Sixteen fringe parties, none of whom have historically had significant public support, were allowed to run.

Samia’s ruling party, CCM, has dominated the country’s politics and has never lost an election since independence.

Ahead of the election, rights groups condemned government repression, with Amnesty International citing a “wave of terror” involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.

The government rejected the claims, and officials said the election would be free and fair.

Samia came into office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president following the death of President John Magufuli.

Protesters marched in Vila Cruzeiro, where days earlier residents laid out dozens of bodies of people killed by police.

Hundreds of protesters have marched through one of the favelas targeted in the deadliest police raid in Rio de Janeiro’s history, calling for Rio state Governor Claudio Castro to resign.

The vocal group of demonstrators gathered on Friday in Vila Cruzeiro, part of the Penha complex of favelas that came under assault, to voice their fury at this week’s police operation that killed at least 121 people, including four police officers.

Some 2,500 police and soldiers stormed the favelas – low-income and crowded neighbourhoods built on steep hillsides – across Rio on Tuesday, targeting notorious gang Comando Vermelho (Red Command) in the Complexo de Alemao and Complexo da Penha favelas.

The officers, backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters, drew retaliation from gang members, sparking scenes of chaos across the city.

The stated objective was to capture gang leaders and challenge Red Command’s territorial expansion. The group has increased its control over the city’s favelas and other areas in recent years.

Authorities initially claimed only 64 people had been killed, but the next day, residents found dozens of bodies in a nearby wooded area.

Locals, politicians, activists, along with grieving mothers who lost their sons in previous operations, voiced their anger as they gathered in Vila Cruzeiro, where days earlier, residents had laid out dozens of dead bodies following the raid.

Much of the fury was directed towards Rio state’s right-wing Governor Castro, with protesters calling him an “assassin”.

“Out with Castro, stop the massacres!” protesters chanted, demanding the governor’s resignation or that he be sent to prison.

“Assassinating young people in favelas isn’t public policy. It’s a massacre,” said local councilwoman Monica Benicio.

Castro deemed the operation a “success” against “narco-terrorists”, claiming those killed were criminals who resisted police. The state government claimed that of the 99 suspects identified so far, 42 had outstanding arrest warrants, while at least 78 had extensive criminal records.

One sign at Friday’s protest read, “120 lives lost is not a success,” while another declared, “Castro has blood on his hands.”

Many also condemned the state in which the bodies were found. At least one body was reportedly decapitated, while others were found with puncture wounds or tied up.

The death toll, the highest ever in a Rio police operation, prompted condemnation from rights groups and the United Nations. Human Rights Watch denounced the “disastrous operation” and called for Brazilian authorities to “ensure a prompt, thorough, and independent investigation of each of the killings”.

Brazil’s Supreme Court and lawmakers have also ordered Castro to provide detailed information on how the operation was carried out. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has scheduled a hearing with Castro and the heads of the military and civil police on November 3.

Castro has accused the administration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of being soft on crime, saying the federal government has abandoned Rio in its fight against gangs.

Amid the criticism, Lula said on X on Friday that he had submitted a bill to parliament proposing a minimum 30-year prison sentence for gang members.