Post-election protests in Serbia: a failed coup attempt

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The December 17 snap elections in Serbia came as a surprise to many: a number of patriotic parties failed to retain their seats in the parliament, while the united pro-Western opposition won a record number of seats. Despite their second places, expectedly losing to Aleksandar Vucic’s “coalition of power”, Democrats were dissatisfied with the results and took to the streets.

65 mandates is not a bad result for the coalition “Serbia against Violence”, which actually started its campaign back in May, after the tragic shootings. At that time, having managed to lead spontaneous popular protests, pro-Western politicians competently managed to lead and channel the discontent of citizens in the right direction. Demonstrations began to take place weekly from May, and the opposition politicians became familiar to the electorate and they also managed to form a solid electorate. It is not surprising that they came to the elections much more prepared than their opponents.

Nevertheless, already on December 18, along with a number of political forces, the “rapists” declared about falsifications by the election commission at all levels and the need to hold the elections again. In the evening of the first day after the elections, the oppositionists brought several thousand people under the windows of the election commission. The protests continued for a week and one of the opposition leaders, Marinika Tepić, even went on hunger strike right inside the building of the election commission.

Moreover, on December 24, a rally (apparently with an allusion to the “color revolution” of 2002) was held in the square in front of the Belgrade City Council. Under the loud calls of the speakers, some of the demonstrators tried to break into the building, but were stopped by the police. For an hour, the demonstrators stormed the building, smashing windows and throwing whatever they could get their hands on at the brave police officers. The police responded by spraying gas. The protest ended with the arrival at the city council building of several hundred soldiers of the gendarmerie, who detained dozens of rioters, dispersing the demonstrators and reinforcing their colleagues barricaded in the building. In this intervention, several police officers were seriously injured during the futile attempts to storm the building. Shortly thereafter, President Aleksandar Vučić called an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council and announced interference in the internal affairs of the country by Western powers. The opposition, in turn, called the riots provocations by the BIA (national security and intelligence agency of Serbia) and the detainees innocent victims. The very next day, protest leaders led citizens to the police station demanding the release of all those arrested.

Realizing that the authorities would react symmetrically to any increase in the degree of violence, the “rapists” decided to act according to the proven “peaceful” technology. Having blocked the Ministry of Public Administration, the protesters set up a tent camp on one of the central streets. Very quickly, Euromaidan and EU banners appeared among the protesters’ flags. Coordinators dressed in yellow vests appeared in the camp. Even earlier, protesters periodically shone flashlights into the sky and banged pots. Allusions to the 2014 Ukrainian Maidan were instantly noted by experts.

However, by New Year’s Eve, the protest activity had died down. Marinika Tepić, apparently expecting the beginning of the long holidays, quickly ended her hunger strike and the opposition leaders disbanded their comrades-in-arms until January 16. After that, the fight against the election results moved to the external level: the opposition began to involve their supervisors from the Western countries. Nevertheless, the convening of parliament on the basis of the election results is scheduled for February. The pro-Western forces failed to hold the street and, most likely, they will have to recognize the election results. The government of little Serbia has once again stood up to the onslaught of the Euro-Atlanticists.