2023-12-25 10:45:56
Stones, sticks and even eggs thrown at Belgrade town hall. Protesters contesting the results of recent legislative elections in Serbia attacked the town hall of the Serbian capital on Sunday, breaking windows and throwing various objects. Some tried to force their way in, but were pushed back by the police who were inside.
“Vucic thief” sang the demonstrators according to Reuters. They were protesting against Serbian nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose party won the parliamentary elections in mid-December.
The December 17 vote attracted widespread criticism after a team of international observers – including representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – denounced a series of “irregularities”, including “vote buying” and “ballot stuffing”. Hundreds of people demonstrated daily in front of the Serbian electoral commission and international condemnations poured in.
“There is no revolution underway”
Sunday evening, the police, who notably used pepper spray, were in front of the main entrance to the town hall, behind their shields. By 10 p.m., the demonstrators had been dispersed. Aleksandar Vucic said two police officers were “seriously injured” during the demonstration, while more than 35 people were arrested.
He called the incidents an attempted “forcible takeover of state institutions,” adding that he had “strong evidence” that “everything was prepared in advance.” “No one has the right to destroy our house, to destroy the property of our country and our citizens, nor to seriously injure our police officers,” he said. in the evening on Pink TVa pro-government television channel.
He had previously affirmed that the authorities would be “capable” of arresting and trying those responsible for these incidents. “These scenes are dramatic (…) but there is no revolution underway and (the demonstrators, editor’s note) will not win,” he said, also on Pink TV. In a statement, the Serbian Interior Ministry called on the demonstrators not to resort to violence and assured that the representatives of the opposition had given a “guarantee that such events would not occur”.
Russia reacted on Monday, declaring that it was “obvious that the West” was seeking “to destabilize the situation in the country”. The spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, quoted by the public agency RIA Novosticompared the protests in Serbia to those of the Maidan in kyiv, which resulted in pro-Westerners coming to power in Ukraine in early 2014.
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