Thousands of Serbs took to the streets of central Belgrade on Saturday, December 30, to protest against the fraud which, according to them, marred the legislative elections of December 17 won by the nationalist right.
This is the 13th consecutive demonstration since the announcement of the results of the legislative and local elections, according to which the SNS (nationalist right) party of President Aleksandar Vucic, in power since 2012, won 46% of the votes to 23.5 % for the opposition coalition.
The opposition contested the results, citing numerous irregularities, including the fact that it said Bosnian Serbs were illegally allowed to vote in the capital. International observers have also reported numerous irregularities.
Protesters from all sides
Saturday’s protest is organized by a group of intellectuals, artists and celebrities, ProGlass (a pun meaning both “proclamation” and “pro-vote”). Pro-glass began by campaigning to call for people to vote, and its proclamation then transformed into a protest against fraud.
But the protesters gathered on Saturday come from all sides, from the main opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” to student and youth groups who have been demonstrating for almost two weeks.
“Students, aged 18 and 20, are accused of having sought to overthrow the constitutional order and placed under house arrest. Is this a sign of fair elections? », Launched one of the leaders of the student movement, Emilija Milenkovic, on Saturday. “We just ask that our voice be heard at least when we vote.”
A university professor, Filip Ejdus, welcomed the fact that students “these days are giving us lessons in civic responsibility and courage.” “We reject this stolen election, the arrests of students and torture by the police,” he added. On Friday, students, at the call of the Borba (“fight”) group, managed to block a street in the center of Belgrade.
“These elections must be canceled.”
The demonstrators are demanding the cancellation of the elections and serious investigations into fraud, in order to be able to organize new elections in six months. The crowd particularly cheered on Saturday the opposition leader, Marinika Tepic, who, on hunger strike since December 18, had to be helped to get on the stage.
“The only thing I can tell you is that everything has already been said. These elections must be canceled,” she said, before going to the hospital and announcing that she was ending her hunger strike.
The location of the gathering, around the Terazije fountain, is symbolic, linked in memories to the four days of demonstrations in March 1991, the first major protests against the strongman of the time, Slobodan Milosevic.
On Sunday, December 24, demonstrators denouncing the contested results of the legislative elections in Serbia attacked Belgrade town hall, breaking windows with stones, before being pushed back by the police. Around thirty arrests had taken place.