Police fired tear gas into the crowd after it emerged that demonstrators had tried to enter a Belgrade administrative building for a second time.
Belgrade police fired tear gas at protesters as they tried to enter the Belgrade City Assembly (city administration) building. Kurir reported this on Sunday, December 24.
According to the newspaper, the protesters broke the glass of a door at the entrance of the building, after which the police fired tear gas. Demonstrators also threw torches at the building. Earlier, Kurir correspondents reported that police detained some protesters at the entrance of the building.
In turn, Reuters writes that thousands of people gathered in the center of Belgrade for a protest against the government on Sunday, demanding the cancellation of the results of parliamentary and local elections that took place a week ago and were declared dishonest. by international observers.
“The teacher is a thief,” the protesters chanted.
Serbia’s increasingly authoritarian president @AVucic said only that there were “only 2,490 people protesting” against his fraudulent election.
2’490 people in Belgrade today: pic.twitter.com/TJ6wT6o0Xm
— Jakub Bielamowicz (@KubaBielamowicz) December 24, 2023
Srdjan Milivojevic and Vladimir Obradovic of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) coalition tried to open the doors of the city hall but were unable to enter, as people shouted “come in, come in” and “don’t give up.”
Another member of Serbia Against Violence, Marinika Tepic, has been on hunger strike since the elections, demanding their cancellation.
BREAK:
Protesters try to storm the City Hall in Belgrade pic.twitter.com/v5VqmTV3mV
— Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) December 24, 2023
The situation in Serbia worsened after the parliamentary elections, which were won by the party of President Aleksandar Vucic, and the pro-Western opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence, which took second place, refused to admit defeat and accused the authorities of falsification and stealing of votes.
On Monday, December 18, opponents of Serbia’s preliminary election results gathered in Belgrade and blocked the street in front of the election commission building. The situation became tense after the country’s president said that opposition protests in the Serbian capital would not bring results and that only elections could “change power.” After that, the protesters blocked the center of Belgrade and even tried to enter the city hall.
The populist ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) received 46.72% of the vote in last weekend’s snap parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results from the State Election Commission.
An international monitoring mission on Monday said the SNS had gained an unfair advantage due to media bias, undue influence of President Aleksandar Vucic and voting irregularities such as voter bribery. The teacher said the election was fair.
The center-left opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence came second in the election with 23.56% of the vote, and the Socialist Party of Serbia came third with 6.56%.
It was previously reported that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of current President Aleksandar Vucic is leading the parliamentary and municipal elections in Serbia.
Let’s remember that the Russian Federation is recruiting Serbs to replace its military forces to wage war against Ukraine.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.