Thousands protested in Belgrade to demand the annulment of elections. An anti-government demonstration took place on Sunday in the central business district of Belgrade. The demonstration aimed to demand the annulment of the unfair parliamentary and local elections a week ago.
According to early findings from the state election commission, the populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), now in power, received 46.72 percent of the votes cast in the snap parliamentary elections over the weekend.
A monitoring mission from the international community stated on Monday that the Social Networking Service (SNS) had obtained an unfair advantage due to prejudice in the media, unlawful influence from President Aleksandar Vucic, and voting irregularities such as vote-buying.
Vucic stated that the elections were conducted legally. A witness who spoke to Reuters claimed that the police used pepper spray on Sunday when a crowd attempted to break into the town hall in Belgrade, which houses the city’s local election commission. A few of the demonstrators scaled the stairs of the building and shattered the glass. People hurled stones at windows, causing the glass to shatter.
Demonstrators screamed, “Vucic thief,” again. The Ministry of the Interior issued a statement that urged demonstrators to “refrain from breaking into the town hall.”
“By reacting calmly, we are trying not to hurt protesters,” Vucic stated in the message in the early evening. In the election, the Socialist Party of Serbia came in third with 6.56% of the vote. In contrast, the opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence, a center-left coalition, came in second place with 23.56% of the vote.
While the audience yelled, “Get in, get in,” and “No surrender,” Srdjan Milivojevic and Vladimir Obradovic, members of the Serbia Against Violence coalition, attempted to open the town hall entrance but were unsuccessful. These individuals were unable to enter the building.
At around ten o’clock (2100 GMT), the anti-riot police moved protesters away from the town hall. Marinika Tepic, another Serbia Against Violence organization member, has been on a hunger strike ever since the elections.
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