Protesters march on Serbia’s presidential palace

Thousands of demonstrators rallied around Serbia's presidential palace in Belgrade to protest against President Aleksandar Vucic on Sunday, a day after opposition supporters stormed a state-run television building.

The break-in marked a new boldness in opposition protests that have been held weekly in the Balkan country since December last year against what critics describe as Vucic's slide toward autocratic rule.

On Saturday night, dozens invaded the offices of RTS television — which the protesters accuse of pandering to the ruling party — demanding to address the population, in images aired live.

The leaders of opposition parties have become more visible at the protests, and among those storming the RTS building were former Belgrade mayor Dragan Djilas and Bosko Obradovic, head of the right-wing Dveri party.

Anti-government demonstrators last stormed the state TV building on October 5, 2000, bringing down the regime of strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

At Sunday's demonstration, riot police — previously little seen at the usually peaceful rallies that began on December 8 — held back the protesters scrambling to get near an area where Vucic was to speak.

The protesters, who have been staging such rallies every weekend for more than three months, blew whistles and shouted "resign!" as Vucic gave a news conference inside the building.

"We shall continue the blockade of the presidency and we will not leave until our demands are met or unless we get firm guarantees that our demands will be met," Borko Stefanovic, an opposition activist, told reporters.

"There are no independent media here in this country," said Srdjan Vuksa, a businessman from the town of Kovin near Belgrade. "I came here to express my dissatisfaction with that."

The protests have spread to other cities and towns, though numbers outside Belgrade have remained small.

In his press conference at the presidential palace — broadcast live on RTS — Vucic said he was not intimidated by the protesters, whom he called "hooligans."

He also lashed out at the opposition, calling Obradovic a "fascist" and Djilas an "oligarch."

Vucic has previously said he would not bow to opposition demands for electoral reform and increased media freedom "even if there were five million people in the street," but said he was willing to test his party's popularity in a snap vote.

Vucic, an ultra-nationalist turned pro-European, has rejected claims that he has become autocratic.

Serbia, which aspires to join the EU in 2025, was criticized by the European Commission last year over press freedoms in the country, denouncing threats, intimidation, and violence against journalists.

(Source: Agencies)

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