Instead of partying, thousands turn New Year celebration into anti-government protest in Serbia

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Instead of the traditional boisterous street partying on New Year's Eve, tens of thousands of protesters led by university students gathered overnight in Belgrade and other Serbian cities to demand political reforms and justice in the Balkan country.

The protesters have been actively demonstrating following the tragic collapse of a concrete canopy in the northern city of Novi Sad’s central train station on Nov. 1, which resulted in 15 fatalities.

The tragedy has been attributed to corruption and substandard construction practices by the populist Serbian leadership, leading to a widespread public outcry and demands for accountability.

Students from various Belgrade universities have organized the protest under the slogan “There is No New Year — You Still Owe Us for the Old One.”

The loud crowd, chanting “We Want Justice,” went silent at 11:52 p.m. with 15 minutes to honor the victims of the Novi Sad tragedy. Many were holding banners with a red handprint, which has become a symbol of the antigovernment protests, telling the authorities that they have blood on their hands.

Earlier, they marched past a state-sponsored concert where the crowd danced to folk music tunes. Police guarded the area where the concert was taking place and set up metal fences while directing the protesting crowd to other streets nearby to avoid contact between the two groups.

The antigovernment protesters emphasized that, despite the festive season, their commitment to seeking justice remains unwavering. The student-led movement has garnered support from various societal groups, including professors, farmers and actors, reflecting broader discontent with autocratic President Aleksandar Vucic's leadership.

Thousands of people also gathered in Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis for parallel gatherings also led by university students in those cities.

In Belgrade, state-sponsored concerts and other New Year celebrations were organized in the city center and in a newly built high-rise Belgrade Waterfront neighborhood, which Vucic has claimed is his own project together with the United Arab Emirates investors.

Belgrade has become a favorite partying destination for tourist on the New Year's Eve celebrations with street partying and huge fireworks.

The crowds in Belgrade braved very cold weather and fog to join the students. The New Year's Eve protest comes just over a week after tens of thousands rallied together with the students in what was one of the biggest gatherings in recent years in the Serbian capital.

Serbia’s public prosecutor on Monday indicted 13 people, including a former minister, over the collapse of the concrete canopy. The protesters say that is not enough as the indictment does not include charges of possible corrupt deals during a renovation of the the Novi Sad train station that was part of a wider deal with Chinese companies.

Vucic earlier told pro-government Prva TV that all student demands have been fulfilled.

“I have always been ready to talk, I am asking them now but they won’t talk to me, they have no arguments, the prosecutors fulfilled the last of their demands, all documents they wanted have been published and nothing happened,” Vucic said, adding he won't be toppled by street protests.

Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed to this report.

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Students march on New Years Eve during a protest that erupted after a concrete canopy fell two months ago and killed 15 people in Belgrade, Serbia, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has blocked the nearly $15 billion proposed deal for Nippon Steel of Japan to purchase Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel — affirming his earlier vow on the presidential campaign trail to prevent the acquisition of Steeltown USA’s most storied steel company.

The proposed deal kicked up an election year political maelstrom across America’s industrial heartland and blocking it drew a threat of litigation from Nippon Steel.

“We need major U.S. companies representing the major share of US steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America’s national interests,” Biden said in a Friday morning statement.

Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel blasted the decision, saying in a joint statement that Biden's blocking the deal “reflects a clear violation of due process and the law” in a process it said was “manipulated” to advance Biden’s political agenda.

It also insisted that Biden cited no credible evidence of the deal presenting a national security problem and suggested it will sue, saying “we are left with no choice but to take all appropriate action to protect our legal rights.”

Biden's decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, known as CFIUS, failed to reach consensus on the possible national security risks of the deal last month, and sent a long-awaited report on the merger to Biden. He had 15 days to reach a final decision.

The committee, chaired by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and made up of other Cabinet members, can recommend that the president block a transaction, and federal law gives the president that power.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press last month that some federal agencies represented on the panel were skeptical that allowing a Japanese company to buy an American-owned steelmaker would create national security risks.

The decision comes just weeks before the Democratic president is set to leave office and could damage relations between the U.S. and Japan, which is America’s biggest ally in Asia and its largest foreign holder of U.S. debt.

In their statement, the two steel companies said it's “shocking — and deeply troubling” that the U.S. would reject a transaction that advances U.S. interests and “treat an ally like Japan in this way.”

“Unfortunately, it sends a chilling message to any company based in a U.S. allied country contemplating significant investment in the United States,” the companies said.

Biden previously came out against the deal last March during the presidential campaign — and was backed by the United Steelworkers, concerned over whether the company would honor existing labor agreements or slash jobs, as well as over the firm’s financial transparency.

“It is important that we maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steel workers,” Biden said in a March statement, while he was still seeking reelection to the presidency before dropping out of the race. “U.S. Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital for it to remain an American steel company that is domestically owned and operated.”

President-elect Donald Trump has also opposed the acquisition and vowed in December on his Truth Social platform to block the deal and to use tax incentives and tariffs to grow the company.

On Friday, Steelworkers President David McCall said the union is grateful for Biden's move to block the sale and called it the “right move for our members and our national security.”

McCall had long questioned Nippon Steel's status as an honest broker for U.S. national trade interests and reiterated that Friday, saying in a statement that “Nippon has proven itself to be a serial trade cheater."

“Allowing it to purchase U.S. Steel would have offered it the opportunity to further destabilize our trade system from within and in the process, compromise our ability to meet our own national security and critical infrastructure needs,” McCall said.

McCall insisted that U.S. Steel has the financial wherewithal to make the company strong and resilient.

For its part, Nippon Steel had said it is best positioned to help American steel compete in an industry dominated by the Chinese and to invest billions in United Steelworkers-represented facilities, including the company's aging blast furnaces.

It pledged to protect U.S. Steel in trade matters, and promised not to import steel slabs that would compete with the blast furnaces.

Nippon Steel announced in December 2023 that it planned to buy the steel producer for $14.9 billion in cash and debt, and committed to keep the U.S. Steel name and Pittsburgh headquarters. Despite that, its proposal raised concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security.

The announcement came during a tide of renewed political support for rebuilding America’s manufacturing sector and followed a long stretch of protectionist U.S. tariffs that analysts say have helped reinvigorate domestic steel.

Nippon Steel waged a public relations campaign to win over supporters, even offering $5,000 in closing bonuses to U.S. Steel employees, a nearly $100 million expense.

A growing number of conservatives and business groups like the U.S. Chamber had publicly backed the deal, as Nippon Steel began to win over some Steelworkers union members and mayors in areas near its blast furnaces in Pennsylvania and Indiana.

Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FILE - The United States Steel logo is pictured outside the headquarters building in downtown Pittsburgh, April 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - This is a portion of US Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, Pa., on Sunday, Apr., 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - This is a portion of US Steel's Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, Pa., on Sunday, Apr., 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

President Joe Biden speaks at an event to award the Presidential Citizens Medal to recipients in the East Room at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)