Police and a crowd of several thousand protesters faced off with some pushing and shoving in front of the Serbian Presidency building during a new conference by President Aleksandar Vucic, following a call to protest by Alliance for Serbia leaders.

The crowd tried to interrupt the news conference with cries of shouts of Vucic Thief and by blowing whistles.The crowd broke through a temporary fence in front of the entrance to the Presidency building. The street was blocked off by protesters with white tape which said It’s Started on them.

The police was reported to have thrown tear gas canisters some 50 metres from the presidency building to try to disperse a part of the crowd coming to the protest. Reporters said that Gendarmerie troopers were deployed along with the regular police to keep the crowd back.  

Dveri leader Bosko Obradovic called people to gather for the protest during the noon news conference after being pushed out of the Serbian state TV (RTS) building late on Saturday night.  

Speaking just before Vucic’s news conference, Obradovic said that the crowd is demanding the president’s resignation along with that of Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, RTS CEO Dragan Bujosevic. He added that they want free and fair elections. “No turning back,” he told reporters.