Fireworks and flares lit up the evening sky as Serbia's protesting students arrived Friday in a southern city on the eve of a huge rally this weekend, part of a massive anti-graft movement challenging the Balkan country's populist government.
The protest rally in Nis on Saturday will mark four months since the concrete canopy at the central train station in the northern city of Novi Sad crashed down on Nov. 1 without warning on the people walking or sitting below.
University students in Serbia are leading nationwide protests that started after a deadly collapse of a train station canopy in November that killed 15 people and critics blamed on government corruption.
Almost daily protests since November have been the biggest gatherings in years, drawing tens of thousands of people and rattling President Aleksandar Vucic's firm grip on power.
Thousands in Nis, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital Belgrade, came out to greet the students who had walked there for several days in groups that set off from various towns in the country.
