NIS, Serbia (AP) — 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.

Tens of thousands of people have joined protesting students in Serbia for a rally proclaiming that “we deserve better” and will no longer accept injustice and corruption in the Balkan country that has

NIS, Serbia (AP) — Tens of thousands of people in Serbia gathered on Saturday for a huge student-led rally that vowed to turn the troubled, populist-run Balkan country into a free nation of justice and rule of law, while sending a message that “We deserve better.”

Vucic has described the protests as a Western-orchestrated attempt to oust him from power. “We want the (state) institutions that work in the interest of all of us and not to our damage,” the students said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of people in Serbia gathered on Saturday for a huge student-led rally that vowed to turn the troubled, populist-run Balkan country into a free nation of justice and rule of law, with many proclaiming "We deserve better.

The almost daily protests regularly draw tens of thousands and have rattled President Aleksandar Vucic's firm grip on power