Citizens pelted police and the Novi Sad Assembly building with eggs, red paint, and toilet paper

Citizens who gathered in protest in front of the Novi Sad City Hall today threw eggs, red paint, and toilet paper at the police and the city hall building.

They did this in protest because the city government appointed a new mayor, whom the opposition said was "unworthy" and who, among other things, organized "beaters" of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

Councilors of the ruling coalition led by the SNS, which also includes the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, elected Žarko Mićin as the new mayor of Novi Sad today.

Only councilors from the ruling coalition attended the session, while police and security did not allow opposition councilors to enter the parliament building.

The police brutally attacked and pushed away the councilors, and some of them were injured.

The protest was called by the united Novi Sad opposition, whose councilors attempted to enter the parliament building, but were roughly physically pushed away by the police.

Then, gendarmerie forces arrived on the scene and set up a cordon where the metal fence had been, which the citizens had removed.

Mićin was elected mayor instead of Milan Đurić, who resigned from the position after SNS thugs beat up students and broke the jaw of one female student.

Opposition representatives previously said that the candidate for the new mayor, Žarko Mićin, is a person who is "unworthy" of the position.

They stated that Mićin was the person who led "thugs to beat citizens", a person who is in the cabinet of former mayor and outgoing Prime Minister of Serbia Miloš Vučević.

"The government is trying, against the will of the majority of citizens, to elect a new mayor and present the situation in the city and the country as if it has returned to normal, as if the protests do not exist and as if no one is to blame for the deaths of 15 people in Novi Sad," the opposition stated.

According to them, the SNS government has lost all legitimacy and legality and "no longer represents anyone."

Novi Sad Police Department: Five police officers injured

The Novi Sad Police Department announced today that "five police officers were injured in attempts by some of the gathered citizens to break through the police cordon near the Novi Sad City Assembly and are receiving medical attention."

"The allegations that police officers prevented councilors from opposition parties from entering the City Assembly and attending the session are not true. The Secretary of the City Assembly invited opposition councilors to participate in today's session, but they refused the invitation and attempted to forcefully enter the building, together with the demonstrators," the Police Department announced.

It was stated that, "without any reason, a number of those gathered targeted police officers with cannonballs, stones, eggs, yogurt, paint and other objects", and that the police officers "exclusively took actions aimed at securing the work of the City Assembly and preserving public order and peace".

The department says one officer used "an irritant spray, in accordance with the law, to repel the attack."

The Police Department announced that criminal or misdemeanor charges will be filed against the perpetrators of the attack on the police officers.

Police with equipment for breaking up demonstrations, with shields and helmets, and police dogs, arrived by bus and numerous "police cars"

A Beta agency reporter previously reported that a large number of police officers have been at the Novi Sad City Assembly and the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, which is located across the street, since early this morning.

Police with riot gear, shields and helmets, and police dogs arrived by bus and numerous police cars.

The police have been constantly present at the last few parliamentary sessions, since November 1, when a tragedy occurred at the Railway Station in Novi Sad, in which 15 people were killed and two were seriously injured.

Since then, parliamentary sessions have been accompanied by protests, which is why the ruling majority always has the assistance of the police.

A metal fence was installed around the Novi Sad City Assembly building yesterday.