Thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Belgrade on December 30 to call for opening voter lists and other anti-fraud efforts amid ongoing unrest over this month's national, regional, and municipal elections claimed by President Aleksandar Vucic's ruling party.
The protesters filled the spacious Terazije Square in the old Stari Grad neighborhood of the Serbian capital, and looked to number well into the thousands.
The show of anger in the streets by students and activists outside the formal political opposition pledging to challenge the conduct of the elections is the latest of nearly two weeks of public discontent since the December 17 voting.
The organizer, ProGlas, is a movement that includes public figures and launched an initiative before the elections that has been signed by nearly 200,000 citizens. It is demanding parliamentary and local elections in Serbia within six months, "after the process of fundamentally changing election conditions."
ProGlas says the citizens' electoral will was "betrayed."
One day earlier, Serbia's national election commission rejected the united opposition alliance Serbia Against Violence's call to nullify the voting, citing a technicality.
That decision came after a student-led, noon-to-noon traffic blockade was launched in downtown Belgrade ahead of the weekend demonstration.
Vucic declared a sweeping victory at nearly every level in the parliamentary and local voting, which also sparked a handful of hunger strikes by opposition leaders demanding a new vote and an internationally backed probe into the elections.
SEE ALSO: As Postelection Protests Rock Serbia, Hunger Striker Becomes The Face Of The OppositionInternational observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have called the election process unfair and cited evidence of bused-in nonresidents to boost the ruling Serbian Progressive Party's (SNS) support, especially in Belgrade.
Vucic, who has tightened his hold on the Balkan state since his party came to power in 2012, has called it "the cleanest and most honest" elections ever.
In its ruling handed down late on December 29, the Republic Election Commission (RIK) dismissed an appeal by the opposition Serbia Against Violence alliance to annul the vote results.
The commission's deputy president, Marko Jankovic, said the challenge of nationwide results was rejected because it had been submitted by the opposition alliance's party list in Belgrade to the city's election commission, which then turned it over to the RIK.
Groups of students set up tents in downtown Belgrade shortly after noon on December 29 to blockade a main street near government buildings.
They were camped out on one of the busiest roadways in the capital, Kneza Milosa Street, near the Ministry for State Administration and Local Self-Government.
Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic have dismissed the international assessments as planned and untrue, and alleged without presenting evidence that foreign plotters are behind the postelection unrest.
A protest against the election process and results outside Belgrade city hall on December 24 turned violent when windows were broken and police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Opposition leader Dragan Djilas denied allegations levelled by pro-government tabloids that the opposition was planning incidents at the rally on December 30.
"No one is planning any violence," he said on December 29. "We will not accept stolen elections and we will fight with all democratic methods."
OSCE observers concluded in their initial report that the national vote was conducted under "unjust conditions."