Groups of Serbian students and activists protesting the results of this month's local and national elections began a sit-in in downtown Belgrade shortly after noon on December 29 to blockade the streets ahead of another planned demonstration this weekend challenging President Aleksandar Vucic and his party's 11-year grip on power.
They are so far obstructing traffic at an intersection of one of the busiest roadways in the capital, Kneza Milosa Street, near the Ministry for State Administration and Local Self-Government as part of the 24-hour, noon-to-noon blockade.
The opposition has accused Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of fraud in voting after which Vucic declared an overwhelming victory over a unified opposition competing within the Serbia Against Violence alliance.
Vucic and his SNS have ruled since 2012, and OSCE observers said the voting was unfair.
Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic have dismissed the international assessments as planned and untrue.
The demonstration planned for December 30 is being organized by groups including ProGlas, a movement that includes public figures and launched an initiative before the elections that has been signed by nearly 200,000 citizens.
SEE ALSO: Two Members Of Serbian Opposition End Hunger Strike Over ElectionProtest actions, including by students and outsiders wary of too close a perceived connection to the formal political opposition, have included a December 27 effort to encourage swamping the same ministry with phone calls and e-mails to "block its work."
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 has denied allegations leveled 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.”
More than a half-dozen opposition lawmakers and other leaders launched a hunger strike after Vucic declared his party's landslide victory.
At least three of them are still vowing not to eat until the results are annulled and new elections called in the next six months, and an international investigation is set up to look into the December 17 voting.