Female students are marking International Women’s Day in Serbia by leading the daily street protests against corruption, and thousands later joined a separate student-led rally against the populist go

Female students Saturday marked International Women's Day in Serbia by leading the daily street protests against corruption and sending a message decrying widespread violence against women in the Balkan country.

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people marched through Belgrade on Friday to mark the deaths of 15 victims in a railway station disaster and to support a student-led call for a general strike aimed at challenging Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's hold on power.

Since December, students from 65 of the country’s 80 faculties have been on strike. Schools are also on strike, and at major demonstrations, farmers have blocked main roads with dozens of tractors.

A new protest action called “General Strike” is taking place across Serbia on 7 March, following a call from students who have been blocking university faculties and demanding accountability for the deaths of 15 people in the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad.

Massive marches have been part of a nationwide anti-graft movement that started after a concrete canopy crashed in November at a railway station in Novi Sad. The near-daily protests regularly draw tens of thousands of people and have rattled President Aleksandar Vučić’s grip on power — including control of the state RTS television as well as numerous pro-government outlets.