Serbian Police’s clash with protesters who ask for early elections

Serbian police have faced a large multitude of anti -government protesters who demand an early election and end The 12 -year rule of President Aleksandar Vucic In the Belgrade capital.

A sea of ​​around 140,000 protesters recovered in the city, the greatest participation in recent months, as the demonstrations led by students increase the pressure on the populist government. “We want elections!” The crowd sang.

Dozens have been arrested, and the riot police saw tear gases and stunned grenades.

President Vucic accused protesters who asked for an choice to be part of a foreign plot that tries to usurp his country. “They wanted to overthrow Serbia, and they have failed,” he wrote on his Instagram page.

On Friday, five people were arrested, accused of conspiring to overthrow the government, according to a statement from the Superior Court of Serbia in Belgrade.

After the clashes, the Minister of Police strongly condemned violence by the protesters and said that those responsible would be arrested.

Months of protests Throughout the country, including university closures, they have shaken Mr. Vucic, whose second term ends in 2027 when there are also scheduled parliamentary elections.

Sladjana Lojanovic, 37, a farmer in the city of Sid in the north, said on Saturday that he came to support the students.

“The institutions have been usurped and … there is a lot of corruption. The elections are the solution, but I don’t think he (Vucic) wants to go in peace,” he told Reuters.

The president has previously rejected the elections to the snapshots. Its coalition led by the progressive party has 156 of 250 parliamentary seats.

Mr. Vucic’s opponents accuse him and his allies of links with organized crime, corruption, violence against rivals and the braking of the freedoms of the media, which they deny.

He has maintained close links with Russia, and Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, has not joined the Western sanctions regime imposed on Moscow for his invasion of Ukraine.

Student protests, opposition, teachers, workers and farmers began last December after 16 people died on November 1 in the COLAPSE OF THE ROOF OF THE NOVI SAD train station. Protesters blame corruption for disaster.

The accident has already forced the former prime minister to resign.

When the protest on Saturday ended, the organizers played a statement to the crowd, asking the Serbs to “take freedom in their own hands” and give them the “green light.”

“The authorities had all the mechanisms and all the time to meet the demands and avoid a climb,” the organizers said in an Instagram statement after the demonstration.

“On the other hand, they opted for violence and repression against people. Any radicalization of the situation is their responsibility.”