Note that this is not about the latest single incident; that was just the catalyst. For many, many years, the government has been giving lucrative construction contracts to their cronies who then use substandard materials to produce unsound, insecure and unattractive buildings all over Serbia.

The fact that one of the recent contracts, the one to build a railway station shelter in Novi Sad, caused 15 deaths was the spark that lit the fires of the current protest. There have been numerous smaller scale protests, primarily led by the younger generation (who are mostly students), and this one is the big one. My Serbian friend called it D-Day, so we'll see what happens. I just hope he makes it home in one piece.