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Outrageous: Serbian border control makes Hungarian students undress and wait for hours
Hungarian university students were detained and humiliated at the Serbian border while travelling to Novi Sad to attend a memorial marking the first anniversary of last year’s tragic railway collapse.
Disgusting attitude from Serbian border control
Members of the Hungarian Student Union (Hasz) said they were stopped for hours, subjected to degrading checks, and eventually denied entry without explanation.
The students travelled by car, minibus and a Flixbus service to show solidarity with Serbian university students, who organised a commemoration for the sixteen victims of the Novi Sad train station roof collapse a year ago.
The disaster triggered one of Serbia’s largest student protest movements and sparked a still going political and social crisis.
Border guards did not let students through, and made students already in the country return
According to the Hungarian participants, Serbian border guards kept them waiting for several hours without justification. “After an incredibly long ordeal, we were still not allowed to enter.
The guards confiscated various items such as walkie-talkies, stickers and badges used for coordination, without providing any reason,” said Anna Horváth, a member of the Hasz.
She added that each of them was handed an official document stating that they posed a national security threat to the Serbian state, and were therefore refused entry, reports 24.hu.
Around thirty Hungarian students planned to join the commemoration, but only eleven were ultimately allowed to cross the border. Those who had previously travelled to Serbia were reportedly turned back without exception.
The students wanted to join the protests
Some groups were made to wait for up to three hours, and two young women were ordered to strip down to their underwear during the inspection.
The passengers of one bus had all their phone numbers recorded by the border officials, who allegedly promised to let them through afterwards – a promise that was never fulfilled.
As a result, the Hungarian students were forced to return. On Saturday evening, they will hold a silent vigil outside the Serbian Embassy on Dózsa György Road in Budapest, at 7:52 PM.
Serbian youth wants a change in the system
The same time Serbian students begin their commemoration in Novi Sad. The sixteen-minute silence will honour the sixteen victims of the tragedy.
According to the organisers, the incident is particularly disturbing given that the Hungarian delegation’s intention was purely peaceful and symbolic. “We simply wanted to remember together,” Horváth said.
Meanwhile, in Novi Sad, tens of thousands have gathered in Liman Park since Friday, arriving on foot and by bicycle from across Serbia. The demonstrators blame the collapse on negligent construction practices and widespread corruption, and they are calling for systemic political change.
They went there to protest against the Serbian government.
They were denied entry into the country.
Perfectly justified decision.
Move on.
Na kiss my butt Idiot facist Steiner!
Probably would be Moscow a good place for such an idiot like you!
No matter how much you might sympathize with the protestors in Novi Sad every country has the right to deny entry to foreigners and particularly those whose purpose is to interfere in domestic politics. Now if Orban sent bus loads of people to support the corrupt Vucic government at pro-government protests they would be welcomed at the border. That too is interference in domestic politics of another country and should be condemned but the government controls entry. When I was in Belgrade in September multiple people unprompted complained to me about the government and no one offered any praise for it. Considering the nature of Serbia I think there is a possibility that it degenerates into considerable violence .