Clashes between police and demonstrators broke out Monday evening in Belgrade, after several days of protests in front of the central electoral commission over fraud during the December 17 vote. They attacked the capital’s town hall.
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This Monday’s demonstration had several particularities. The first being that the protesters, who contest the results of the December 17 elections, had come in large numbers. Much more than the previous evenings. The second being that the student protesters had called for a tightening and blocking of major arteries in Belgrade from the 25th. The radicalization of the situation had been felt for several days, reports our specialist in the region, Laurent Rouy.
The versions differ depending on whether the question is asked of the government or the opposition. For nationalist President Aleksandar Vucic, violent demonstrators but few in number tried to force the doors of institutions and confronted the police, who reacted by preventing the chaos. For the opposition, the regime brought in agitators, perhaps violent support groups, to create incidents and thus justify muscular intervention by the police, in the hope of breaking the movement before it took too much of magnitude.
Around thirty arrests
According to an AFP journalist, Belgrade town hall was attacked. Protesters threw stones, sticks and eggs at the building, breaking windows and attempting to force entry, but were repelled by police inside.
Aleksandar Vucic, whose party was declared the winner of the December 17 legislative elections, claimed that two police officers had been “ seriously injured » during the demonstration, while more than 35 people were arrested.
He described the incidents as an attempt to “ forcible takeover of state institutions “, adding that he had ” strong evidence ” whereby ” everything was prepared in advance “.
Moscow accuses the West of seeking to “ destabilize ” the situation
The December 17 vote drew widespread criticism after a team of international observers including representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) denounced a series of ” irregularities “, notably ” buying votes ” And ” ballot stuffing “.
In a statement, the Serbian Interior Ministry called on demonstrators not to resort to violence and assured that opposition representatives had given the ” guarantee that such events would not occur “.
Russia on Monday accused the West of seeking to “ destabilize » the situation in Serbia, where demonstrators contesting the results of recent legislative elections attacked Belgrade town hall the day before. “ It is obvious that the collective West seeks to destabilize the situation in the country “, declared the spokesperson for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, quoted by the public agency RIA Novosti, comparing the demonstrations in Serbia to those of the Maidan in Kiev, which resulted in the coming to power of pro- Westerners in Ukraine in early 2014.
The opposition is calling for a massive mobilization Monday evening.