I n April of last year, dozens of students set off from Serbia , intent on making it to Strasbourg, France on bicycles. The aim of the arduous, 13-day transcontinental journey was simple: to make their voices heard in Europe and beyond.

In their home city of Novi Sad, students had been holding near-daily protests after a deadly roof collapse at the city’s main railway station. As their push for accountability and justice spread across the country, it was met with baton-wielding police, teargas and a political class that branded these young people as traitors.

Their trek to Strasbourg was aimed at casting a spotlight on the deepening erosion of democratic values in their home country. “Serbia needs Europe’s support,” the students explained in an open letter to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as they arrived in Strasbourg and met with MEPs and officials. “We are not riding toward Europe to flee Serbia.…