Police in Serbia fired tear gas on Sunday to prevent hundreds of opposition supporters from trying to enter Belgrade’s parliament building in protest at what observers said were widespread irregularities during last weekend’s general election.
The authorities have denied that there was vote fraud. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday that the claims were outright “lies” pushed by the political opposition.
Police deployed inside the Belgrade City Hall assembly building, firing tear gas, while hundreds of opposition protesters broke windows at the building’s entrance.
Protesters chanted “open the door” and “thieves” as they threw eggs at the building. Some chanted “Vucic is Putin”, comparing the Serbian president to the Russian leader.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party won 46.72 percent of the vote in early parliamentary elections last weekend, according to preliminary results from the state election commission.
An international monitoring mission said on Monday that the Progressive Party benefited unfairly through President Vucic’s undue influence and voting irregularities such as vote buying.
A center-left opposition coalition “Serbia against violence” came second in the election with 23.56 votes.
Five opposition leaders are on hunger strike as the opposition says it has been robbed of a local government victory in Belgrade and has asked European institutions not to recognize the results of Serbia’s election until a full international investigation into voting irregularities is completed. .