They packed up food, water and extra clothes and set off. Hundreds of Serbian university students on Thursday started an 80-kilometer, or 50 mile, march toward the northern city of Novi Sad.

With this energy and mood I hope we can do it, otherwise there will be no brighter future,” said Luka Arsenovic, another student marcher. Many in Serbia believe that the collapse of the overhang at the train station was essentially caused by government corruption in a large infrastructure project with Chinese state companies.

The protests began after an attack on drama students on January 24 by pro-government thugs during a daily 15-minute commemoration for victims of a deadly overhang collapse in November that killed 15 people.