Several hundred people gathered outside the headquarters of the State Election Commission in central Belgrade on Tuesday, before marching towards the Palace of Justice, demanding the release of the arrested protesters.
Serbian police said on Monday that they arrested at least 38 people who took part in a protest on Sunday against reported irregularities during the Dec. 17 vote, after which Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive Party was declared the winner.
On Sunday evening, protesters tried to enter Belgrade’s town hall, breaking windows, before police used tear gas and rubber batons to disperse them.
The opposition group Serbia Against Violence has organized protests for nine days in a row saying that there were election frauds, especially in the Serbian capital.
Some opposition politicians are on hunger strike.
“We will not recognize the theft (of votes) and the electoral will of the citizens of Belgrade will be protected!”, the opposition candidate for the post of mayor of Belgrade, Vladimir Obradovic, told the gathered crowd on Tuesday.
Former Serbian President Boris Tadic said that “only pressure, constant pressure is the key in these circumstances. This is not a one-round fight, this is a multi-round fight and pressure is needed.”
The Serbia Alliance Against Violence last week asked the European Union to investigate the election results after international observers said the polls were held in “unfair conditions”.
The government has denied that there was any misuse of votes and insisted that the elections were fair, despite criticism from international and local election observers.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who on Monday met with Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, described Sunday’s protests as an attempt to topple the government with foreign help, but gave no evidence for such claims.
The Russian ambassador told his country’s media that President Vucic has “irrefutable evidence” that the West is encouraging opposition protests.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic thanked Russia on Monday, which, as she said, had already informed Serbia about the possibility of an uprising.
Serbia formally seeks membership in the European Union, but maintains close ties to Moscow and has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its aggression in Ukraine.