President Aleksandar Vucic condemns “attempted violent seizure of power” amid protests over alleged election fraud.
Riot police in Serbia have fired tear gas and pepper spray at opposition supporters calling for the annulment of elections that have been marred by claims of widespread voter fraud.
Hundreds of demonstrators attempted to storm Belgrade City Hall on Sunday evening while demonstrating against the results of the December 17 parliamentary and local elections, which international observers said were marred by vote buying, ballot forgery and the undue influence of President Aleksandar Vucic.
Opposition supporters, some chanting “Vucic thief” and “Vucic is Putin,” used flagpoles and rocks to break windows as they tried to break into the capital's administration building, but were repelled by riot police.
Vucic's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) returned to power with a parliamentary majority after winning nearly 47 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results from electoral authorities.
According to election authorities, the center-left opposition Alliance Serbia Against Violence received 23.56 percent of the vote, followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia with 6.56 percent.
Serbia Against Violence has claimed it is the rightful winner, particularly in Belgrade, where there have been reports of non-residents being recruited to vote.
In a letter earlier this week, Serbia Against Violence told European Union institutions, officials and member states that it would not recognize the result and called on the bloc to do the same and open an investigation.
“Police are everywhere, even on the roofs. It's obvious they don't want to acknowledge it [the] Election results,” said Nebojsa Zelenovic, leader of Serbia Against Violence. “We will continue our fight.”
Vucic has rejected opposition calls for a rerun of the vote, describing claims of irregularities as obvious “lies”.
In a speech broadcast on pro-government Pink TV on Sunday, Vucic said the protests were “not a revolution” and that those who wanted to destabilize the state would not succeed.
“This was an attempted violent takeover of the state institutions of the Republic of Serbia,” Vucic said, claiming there was evidence that “everything was prepared in advance with help from abroad.”
The Serbian leader said more than 35 people had been arrested and more would follow.
“No one has the right to destroy our home, destroy the property of our country and our citizens, let alone cause serious injuries to our police officers,” Vucic said.
Vucic and his party were rocked by anti-government protests in May, which began as demonstrations against successive mass shootings in which 18 people, including nine children, were killed, before morphing into a broader anti-government movement addressing issues such as rising inflation and inflation took aim at corruption in the government.