BELGRADE, December 30. /TASS/. Several thousand opposition activists continue protests in downtown Belgrade, a TASS correspondent reported.
After marching along the city’s central streets, the protesters settled at the crossroads between the Constitutional Court and Parliament buildings. The demonstrators are blowing pipes and whistles. The police closed traffic along several adjacent streets, which caused problems for public transport.
Later, Serbia’s opposition has promised to stop daily protests. "There will be no more protests in front of the Republican Election Commission," Miroslav Aleksic, a lawmaker and a representative of the Serbia Against Violence opposition coalition, told the N1 television channel. According to Aleksic, "there is no point" in these actions any longer.
"We will organize such big gathering [like today’s] from time to time," he added.
The protests are being held amid the rerun parliamentary and municipal elections at a number of polling stations. Due to numerous complaints after the December 17 elections, the Republican Election Commission ruled that a rerun of the election will be held at 35 out of more than 8,300 polling stations on December 30. It also ruled that rerun voting will also be held at eight polling stations on January 2.
The Serbia Against Violence opposition bloc asserts that the country’s parliamentary and municipal elections that were held on December 17 were rigged. The opposition began rallying outside the Republican Election Commission building in Belgrade on December 18 and attempted to storm the city hall building on December 24. The riots were dispersed by the police, who detained 38 people. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic described the attempt to seize the Belgrade City Hall as an attack on the country’s sovereignty, while Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said that Moscow had warned Belgrade about potential unrest.