Reuters and AP: Police used pepper spray to prevent protesters from entering the Belgrade Assembly

Leading Western news agencies reported this evening on an anti-government protest in downtown Belgrade, stating that police used pepper spray to prevent protesters from entering the city hall building.

Reuters reports that thousands gathered in downtown Belgrade for an anti-government protest, demanding the annulment of parliamentary and local elections that international observers said were not fair.

The international monitoring mission announced on December 18 that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) gained an overwhelming advantage thanks to media bias, the undue influence of President Aleksandar Vučić, who claims the elections were fair, and election irregularities such as vote buying, Reuters reminds.

The agency states that the police used pepper spray tonight after the crowd tried to break into the Belgrade Assembly, where the City Election Commission is headquartered, and adds that some of the protesters climbed the building and broke the windows, while others chanted "Vučić, thieves".

Representatives of the "Serbia against violence" coalition, Srđan Milivojević and Vladimir Obradović, tried to open the door of the city hall, but they failed to enter, while the crowd chanted "Come in, come in" and "No surrender", adds Reuters.

The Associated Press reported that police in Serbia used tear gas to prevent hundreds of opposition supporters protesting what election observers described as widespread irregularities in last weekend's election from entering the city hall.

Serbia's populist authorities deny that there was election theft and describe the elections as fair, AP reports, adding that Vučić said today that such claims are "obvious lies" and that they are promoted by the opposition.

According to AP, Vučić suggested tonight during the protest that the riots were instigated from abroad and called the protesters "thugs", claiming that they will not succeed in destabilizing the country.

Police in equipment to break up demonstrations barricaded themselves in the city hall building, from where they threw tear gas while hundreds of opposition supporters broke the windows at the entrance, writes AP.

Demonstrators shouted "Open the door" and "Thieves" while throwing eggs at the building, and some chanted "Vučić is Putin", comparing the Serbian president to the Russian leader, the US agency adds.

The agency adds that Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party, according to the results of the elections on December 17, won both the parliamentary and Belgrade elections, and that its main opponent, the "Serbia Against Violence" coalition, claims that it was deprived of victory, especially in Belgrade.

AFP: Clashes between demonstrators and the police in front of the Belgrade City Assembly

Demonstrators who condemn the disputed results of the parliamentary elections in Serbia threw stones and broke the windows of the city hall in Belgrade this evening, before the police pushed them away, reported the France Presse agency.

Demonstrators threw stones, sticks and eggs at the building, broke windows and tried to force their way in, but were rebuffed by the police.

The police, who used pepper spray, are in front of the main entrance to the town hall, behind their shields.

Municipal and parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on December 17, in which the right-wing nationalist party of President Aleksandar Vučić was declared the winner, France Press reported.

The vote drew widespread criticism after a team of international observers - including representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) - denounced a number of "irregularities", including "vote buying" and "ballot tampering".

Hundreds of people have been demonstrating every day since then in front of the Serbian election commission, and international condemnations are also coming.

AFP: In Serbia, the leader of the opposition is on hunger strike

One of the leaders of the Serbian opposition, Marinika Tepić, apparently physically fragile, but determined and on hunger strike to condemn electoral fraud in the December 17 parliamentary elections, told France Press that she is ready to continue the strike despite the risks to her health.

The deputy at the head of the list of the opposition coalition to President Aleksandar Vučić, whose right-wing nationalist party was declared the big winner of the vote, is demanding the annulment of the vote and on Monday she started a hunger strike with six other deputies.

On Saturday, her client said her health was "at risk" and she had to receive daily IVs.

But Marinika Tepić refuses to give up the fight.

"I try not to think about it (death). I don't see it as a sacrifice, but as a struggle, and a way to keep myself alive," said the 49-year-old woman, adjusting in the improvised bed she had set up for herself on bench in the Parliament in Belgrade.

The doctors are "trying to keep me going as long as possible, because I have no intention of giving up until these rigged elections are annulled, until they admit that there was election fraud and until the will of the people is defended," she said.

According to her, the doctors were surprised that there was no crisis related to food and hunger.

"I think everything is there," said Marinika Tepić, pointing to her head.

"It simply has to be done in order to raise awareness in Serbia and abroad," she added.

The vote drew widespread criticism after a team of international observers - including representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) - condemned a series of "irregularities", including "vote buying" and "ballot tampering".

Hundreds of people have been demonstrating every day in front of the Serbian election commission since then, and international condemnations are also coming.

Germany called the alleged fraud "unacceptable" for a country hoping to join the European Union, the US called on Belgrade to address the "concerns" of election observers, and the EU said that "the electoral process in Serbia requires tangible improvements and further reforms."

Despite the flood of criticism, the President of Serbia remained steadfast.

"I would ask all those who are on hunger strike not to do it. They can organize demonstrations every day, I am used to demonstrations," he said today in a televised speech.

The Prosecutor's Office of Serbia announced on Saturday that it has asked the police to investigate several alleged irregularities to determine whether there is enough evidence to file formal charges.

Numerous cases of alleged irregularities have been reported, including cases of "electoral corruption" and "vote buying", according to a statement from the prosecutor's office, reports AFP.

The Serbian police announced today that a total of 344 reports were submitted on election day and that in 18 cases investigators found evidence of "criminal acts".

But international observers also cited information about "voters living abroad who were brought by the ruling party by bus to vote in Belgrade."

Marinika Tepić believes that the advocate of "importing voters" is President Vučić himself.

"I think Serbia is the only country in the world with the phenomenon of electoral migrants. It's like in the play King Ibi - when people stopped loving him, he decided to change people," she said.

Vučić rejected those accusations, stressing that he will "defend the will of the people expressed in the vote".