In Belgrade, a new violent protest was staged by the opposition, with demonstrators trying to enter the Serbian capital’s city hall. For seven days, anti-government demonstrations denouncing alleged corruption in the December 17 parliamentary and administrative elections shook the country.
The rally, which gathered as usual in front of the election commission headquarters yesterday, December 24, quickly turned into a violent protest, with several thousand demonstrators heading towards the nearby City Hall with the intention of attacking it. Many attempted to break through the fences and enter the building several times to defend the massive police forces that arrived in riot gear.
Police used tear gas to disperse groups causing trouble against violent demonstrators who had been targeting City Hall for a long time by throwing eggs, plastic bottles, tomatoes and other objects. Some entrance doors and a few windows of the City Hall were destroyed. While at least 35 violent demonstrators were detained, many police officers were injured.
President Vucic called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council: According to the outgoing mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic, what happened last night in Belgrade can be compared to the 2014 Majdan uprising, which started with anti-government protests in Kiev in 2014. in 2014 in the central square of the Ukrainian capital against then pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accuses Western countries of “exacerbating the situation in Serbia.”
International observers noticed numerous irregularities during the vote in the Balkan country, which is bidding to join the European Union. The ruling populist party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), won 46.72% of the votes in last weekend’s snap parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results from the State Election Commission. According to international monitoring, outgoing president Aleksandar Vucic would have gained an unfair advantage through media control. In the elections, the center-left opposition Alliance Against Violence came second with 23.56 percent of the votes, while the Socialist Party of Serbia came third with 6.56 percent of the votes.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
