Six months after the accident at Novi Sad Railway Station and three months after two indictments were filed against 16 individuals accused of endangering public safety, pro-government media in Serbia are still promoting theories suggesting that the collapse of the canopy may have been a terrorist act.
None of the official institutions has, for six months, stated that there is anything indicating that the canopy collapsed as a result of sabotage, while the police dismissed this possibility within the first hours after the tragedy. Nevertheless, conspiracy narratives are still being pushed.
Baseless claims that the canopy collapse was caused by sabotage or diversion have been circulating for months, not only in pro-government tabloids but also on dubious social media accounts that glorify President Vučić and discredit students and citizens who have been protesting for the past six months.
Also, over the weekend, the TV channel Informer, a mouthpiece of the ruling party, even linked the mass shootings that occurred in Belgrade in May 2023 to the canopy collapse. Informer claimed that more than 30 people died in May 2023 and November 2024 as a result of some form of terrorism and argued that it is impossible for all these events to have occurred without political motives. Following the mass murders in May 2023, mass citizen protests occurred, similar to the protests that have been ongoing since November 2024.
The claims of terrorism related to the Novi Sad tragedy were first introduced in the immediate aftermath of the railway station collapse by the leader of the far-right Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Šešelj. Similar remarks were made by officials of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
“I have no evidence, but I’m inclined to believe the canopy collapse was an act of sabotage. I have no proof, but I can not shake the feeling that this was premeditated”, said SNS member of the National Assembly, Vladimir Đukanović on 2 February.
Such theories resurfaced on 12 April during a rally organised by the President of Serbia, when the father of one of the victims took the stage.
“The tragedy in Novi Sad was caused by a terrorist act, both foreign and domestic… It’s no coincidence that 1 November was chosen as the date of collapse. That’s the day Catholics and the Western world observe All Saints’ Day”, said Đuro Raca, the father of a victim, during the rally.
Raca repeated these claims the following day as a guest on TV Pink, one of the country’s most-watched pro-government TV stations with national coverage. He then filed a criminal complaint with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office (VJT) in Belgrade and met with the Chief Public Prosecutor, Nenad Stefanović.
Conspiracy theories about an alleged “sabotage” or “terrorist act” are undermined by the fact that indictments have been filed against 16 individuals, and criminal proceedings are underway before the Higher Court in Novi Sad and Belgrade. Police had already ruled out terrorism as a cause in the first hours following the incident.
Predrag Petrović, Research Director at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP), says for the European Western Balkans that the possibility of sabotage or diversion was dismissed from the start.
According to him, one reason is the technical nature, as it would have been very difficult to bring down the structure in such a way.
“That would be extremely difficult to carry out, given the complexity of the structure. A serious amount of preparation would be required to achieve something like that”, Petrović believes.
He explains that if it were an act of sabotage, it would be implied that someone had either weakened the supports using explosives or deliberately made an error during the reconstruction to cause the collapse.
Petrović adds that both sabotage and diversions are usually carried out in wartime or in situations of extremely heightened tensions between states.
“That’s not the case with Serbia. Many Western countries still support the regime, as well as Russia and China. Therefore, there is no political motive that would make sabotage or diversion a likely scenario”, Petrović says.
When asked what purpose such narratives serve if police have already ruled out terrorism, Petrović assess that the ruling party uses them to deflect attention from the core issue.
“The core issue is that the canopy collapsed due to negligence and corruption. Moreover, the narratives about terrorism fit into broader claims about ‘color revolution’ – that foreign actors are trying to destabilize Serbia”, he says.
He notes that this is not the first time the government has attempted to deflect responsibility by pushing narratives of sabotage or terrorism.
“When the energy system collapsed in Serbia in December 2021 due to incompetence, the authorities floated the story of sabotage. The Security Information Agency (BIA) was even sent to investigate. We never found out the results of that investigation, and no one was ever held accountable. This is a method of the current government – to divert attention from the real issue and hope that people forget the root of the problem”, Petrović says.
Asked whether the authorities might involve BIA in investigation claims related to the canopy collapse, Petrović assess that, at this point, the narrative serves purely propaganda purposes.
“Even if an investigation is launched, it will still be for propaganda”, Petrović concludes.