"Only truth and justice" — these were the demands the student protesters presented to the Serbian authorities eight months ago in the wake of the collapse of the canopy at the entrance to Novi Sad railway station on November 1 that killed 16 people.

United under the slogan "You've got blood on your hands," they rejected leaders, ideologies and parties alike, demanding only accountability for the deaths of those killed in the tragedy.

"We had a minimal ideological consensus around which we united," said Tatjana Rasic, a student from Novi Sad who joined the protests at a very early stage.

"We were not asked to express views on other issues, and we followed general democratic principles — unity, tolerance, justice," she told DW.

Right from the word go, the flags of Serbia and the universities were the only ones welcome at the students' protests. It was an attempt to return state symbols to the citizens rather than let them become tools of politics.

But as the protest movement grew, so, too did the ideological diversity within it.

Flags bearing slogans like "We won't give up Kosovo," traditional Serbian caps and nationalist symbols began popping up at protests with increasing frequency. At the same time, veterans of the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s often came to demonstrations and acted as "security guards" for the students.

There was growing criticism that the........

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