SERBIA’S protesting students embarked on a new endeavour today — a nearly 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) run to Brussels aimed at drawing European Union attention to their months-long struggle against corruption in the Balkan country.

The big run followed the students mass cycle to France earlier in the month. This time, more than 20 students set off from the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad for a relay-style “ultra-marathon” that is expected to last for 18 days. Cheered off by hundreds of people, the students headed toward the eastern Croatian town of Osijek, the first stop on their journey.

Nikola Kojcin acknowledged that “it’s going to be really hard, but we’ll make it, we have to make it.”