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Thousands Protest in Serbia to Demand Free Press and Elections

Riot police officers clashed with demonstrators at a protest on Sunday against President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia in the capital, Belgrade.Credit...Marko Djurica/Reuters

BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands of Serbs protested outside President Aleksandar Vucic’s official residence in the capital, Belgrade, on Sunday to push for greater press freedom and free and fair elections, an intensification of rallies that have been held every weekend for more than three months.

Demonstrators broke into the state-run television network’s building on Saturday to express their anger at what they said was scant coverage of their protests.

Mr. Vucic won a commanding victory in the 2017 presidential election and critics say he has used that dominance to turn the levers of state — the news media, law enforcement and the courts — against his opponents.

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Mr. Vucic in Belgrade this month. He has previously said that he would not bow to opposition demands for electoral change and increased press freedom.Credit...Koca Sulejmanovic/EPA, via Shutterstock

An attack in November on an opposition politician, Borko Stefanovic, prompted the growing protests, which have cast a harsh light on Mr. Vucic and on whether he is prepared to embrace Western principles of free speech or follow a model of authoritarianism dressed up with the trappings of democracy that can be seen in countries such as Turkey and Russia.

Riot police officers used pepper spray against a small group of the protesters on Sunday after they tried to bring a truck with loudspeakers closer to the president’s residence, Reuters reported. The demonstrators blew whistles and shouted, “Resign!” as Mr. Vucic gave a news conference inside the building.

Referring to the episode at the television building, Mr. Vucic said, “I am not afraid.” During his televised address, Mr. Vucic repeatedly labeled opposition leaders “fascists, hooligans and thieves,” The Associated Press reported.

“There will be no more violence,” The A.P. cited Mr. Vucic as saying. “Serbia is a democratic country, a country of law and order and Serbia will know how to respond.”

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Protesters broke into the state-run television network’s building on Saturday to express their anger at what they say is scant coverage of their rallies.Credit...Koca Sulejmanovic/EPA, via Shutterstock

Mr. Vucic previously said that he would not bow to opposition demands for electoral change and for increased press freedom “even if there were five million people in the street.” He has also said that he is willing to test the popularity of his Serbian Progressive Party in a snap vote.

Protesters said they would not be deterred easily. “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.

Srdjan Vuksa, a businessman from the town of Kovin, east of Belgrade, was among those at the rally. “There are no independent media here in this country,” he said. “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.

Antigovernment demonstrators last stormed the state-run TV building on Oct. 5, 2000, during the ouster of the former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: Thousands in Serbia Rally For Free Press and Elections. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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