President says election protesters attempted to overthrow Serbia's government
Riot police in Serbia fired tear gas to prevent hundreds of opposition supporters from entering the capital’s city council building on Sunday in protest of what election observers said were widespread vote irregularities during a general election last weekend, AP reported.
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic said it was an attempt to overthrow the government orchestrated from abroad. He said more than 35 people were arrested and more detentions would follow.
“This was an attempted violent takeover of the state institutions of the Republic of Serbia,” Vucic told the pro-government Pink TV.
The country’s populist authorities have denied rigging the vote and described the election to fill parliament and local offices as fair. Vucic said Sunday that claims of irregularities in the vote were blatant ”lies” promoted by the political opposition.
Vucic suggested the unrest was instigated from abroad but provided no evidence to support the claim. Addressing the nation on state media as the protest took place outside Belgrade city hall, he called the demonstrators “thugs” who would not succeed in destabilizing the state and said, “This is not a revolution.”
“They will not succeed,” Vucic said. “We are doing our best with our calm and mild reaction not to hurt demonstrators” who came to the event to protest peacefully.
Results from the Dec. 17 election showed a victory for Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party in both the parliamentary and Belgrade city ballots. Serbia Against Violence, the party’s main opponent, said it was robbed of a win, especially in Belgrade.
An observation mission made up of representatives of international rights watchdogs reported multiple irregularities, included cases of bought votes and the stuffing of ballot boxes.
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