Serbia: President Vucic to address the people after storming of state TV building RTS

Protesters broke into Serbia’s state television building for the first time in almost 20 years and Albanian police used tear gas to disperse a crowd trying to break into the parliament on a day of anti-government demonstrations across the Balkans.

In Belgrade demonstrators broke into the state-run Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) building on Saturday, demanding to address the population in images aired live.

There have been weekly opposition protests since December against the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, calling for media freedom as a condition for free and fair elections. State television news has given scant coverage to the protests.

“For the past months we have been asking only for one thing – to allow protest organisers to speak on the state television,” said Boško Obradović, the leader of the right-wing Dveri party and one of the people to invade RTS.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is set to address the nation a day after opposition protesters stormed and briefly occupied the state TV network in a protest against what they called biased coverage.

The presidential office said Vucic would speak on the events surrounding the demonstration in a televised speech at noon on March 17.

Protesters demonstrating against Vucic were forced out of the state-run TV building in Belgrade after storming the site two hours earlier.