Protests In Serbia Against President Vucic Enter 14th Straight Weekend

Thousands of people took to the streets of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on March 9 for the 14th straight weekend to demonstrate against President Aleksandar Vucic.

The protests began back on December 8. Demonstrators are demanding that Vucic end his control over state media and are calling for fair elections.

On March 9, protesters blocked the entrance to the head quarters of Serbian state broadcaster RTS for one hour, the German dpa news agency reported.

One of the speakers addressing the crowd was Branislav Lecic, an actor and politician who was one of the leaders of Serbia's first massive pro-democracy protests on March 9, 1991.

The demonstrations were triggered when a gang of thugs beat up opposition politician Borko Stefanovic in November.

The movement has since adopted the slogan "one of 5 million," in a jab at Vucic, who said after the early rallies that he would not bow to a single demand "even if there were 5 million of you."

So far, the organizers have not lined up behind any opposition group.

But the protests have been backed by the largest opposition bloc, the Alliance for Change, a broad coalition grouping more than 20 parties and movements.

Based on reporting by dpa and AP