(Belgrade) Demonstrators contesting the results of recent legislative elections in Serbia attacked Belgrade town hall on Sunday, breaking windows with stones, before being pushed back by the police, noted an AFP journalist.
Protesters threw stones, sticks and eggs at the building, breaking windows and attempting to force entry, but were repelled by police inside.
The police, who notably used pepper spray, are in front of the main entrance to the town hall, behind their shields. By 10 p.m. (local time), the demonstrators had been dispersed.
PHOTO DARKO VOJINOVIC, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The police dispersed the demonstrators using pepper spray.
Nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, whose party was declared the winner of the December 17 legislative elections, affirmed that the authorities “will be able” to arrest and judge those responsible for these incidents.
“These scenes are dramatic […]but there is no revolution underway and [les manifestants] will not win,” he declared on the pro-government channel Pink TV in a speech, according to the Beta news agency.
In a statement, the Serbian Interior Ministry called on demonstrators not to resort to violence and assured that opposition representatives had given “their guarantee that such events would not occur”.
The December 17 vote drew widespread criticism after a team of international observers – including representatives from 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.