Month: December 2023

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Berlin — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a helicopter flight Sunday to check the flooded regions in the northwest of the country, where rivers have swelled and overflowed homes, roads and fields after weeks of heavy rain.

In recent days, hundreds of people have been evacuated from affected areas in northern and eastern Germany as a precaution.

Scholz landed in the morning in the town of Verden in Lower Saxony where dikes along rivers were soaked with water and close to bursting in some parts of the state.

Talking to reporters near the Aller river which has flooded parts of Verden, Scholz thanked “the police, the fire department, the federal agency for technical relief and the German Armed Forces” for their joint efforts.

“It is important that we stick together,” he said.

The chancellor also expressed gratitude to the “countless citizens of our country who are now sacrificing their time and putting themselves in danger to ensure safety for us all.”

Thousands of volunteers have helped fill and distribute millions of sandbags used to protect homes from the floods, said the governor of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, who accompanied Scholz on his tour of the hard-hit region.

In Haren in the region of Emsland close to the Dutch border, emergency services used sandbags to repair part of a dike on Sunday night. In Wathlingen near the city of Celle, hundreds of people helped stabilize parts of a dike that was washed out, German news agency dpa reported.

In the eastern state of Thuringia, the county of Mansfeld-Suedharz declared a state of emergency on Sunday as several villages on the Helme river were threatened by the rising waters, dpa reported, where around 130 emergency staffers also secured a heavily soaked dike with thousands of sandbags to keep it from bursting.

Lauding the combined efforts, Scholz said, “I believe that this shows that there is solidarity in our country and a willingness to stick together.”

The chancellor also promised the federal government would help support affected states and local authorities in coping with the crisis “to the best of its ability.”

In the summer of 2021, Germany and Belgium were hit by deadly floods that killed more than 230 people.
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London — Eurostar warned customers travelling from London on Sunday of potential delays after flooding forced the cancelation all Saturday trains.

The first Eurostar train left London St Pancras International shortly after 8:00 am (0800 GMT).

Engineers had brought water in two tunnels in Kent in southern England under control meaning that at least one tunnel was useable, it said.

But Eurostar cautioned that “there will be some speed restrictions in place in the morning which may lead to delays and stations are expected to be very busy.” 

The company operates services from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

It announced late Saturday that all scheduled trains would run on Sunday after an estimated over 30,000 people were impacted by the last-minute cancellations.

Travelers were left stranded on mainland Europe while those at St Pancras scrambled to find hotel rooms or make alternative travel arrangements.

Some tourists said their New Year holiday plans had been “ruined.”

A spokesman for HS1, which runs the route between London and the Channel Tunnel, said flooding was being resolved and “the HS1 line will be operational in the morning.”

“We understand how frustrating this has been for passengers and apologize for the inconvenience caused at such an important time of the year.”

The company has not revealed what initially caused the flooding which began Friday night when water filled tunnels near Ebbsfleet International in Kent, blocking the high-speed rail line.

The spokesman said the cause of the flooding will be investigated, but added that there was no evidence to suggest it was caused by a burst pipe feeding the tunnel’s fire safety system as had previously been suggested by a water company. 

Footage shot in the tunnel had shown water gushing from a pipe and submerging the tracks. 
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london — Two-time Oscar-nominated actor Tom Wilkinson, who starred in “The Full Monty” — a movie about a group of unemployed steel workers who launched new careers as strippers — died suddenly on Saturday. 

The British actor’s death was confirmed in a statement released by his agent on behalf of his family. He was 75. 

“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him.” 

Wilkinson was nominated for Academy Awards for actor in a leading role for “In The Bedroom” in 2001, and for a supporting role in “Michael Clayton” in 2007. 

He most recently reunited with his “Full Monty” co-stars, Robert Carlyle and Mark Addy, in a Disney+ series of the same name. 

The original 1997 smash hit about an unlikely group of men stripping won an Oscar for best original musical or comedy score and was nominated for three others, including best picture and best director. 

Wilkinson played ex-foreman Gerald Cooper who was recruited to help the unemployed men dance. 

The actor also took home the best supporting actor Bafta for the role. 

Wilkinson won a 2009 Golden Globe and 2008 Emmy for his role as American political figure Benjamin Franklin in the HBO series “John Adams,” opposite Paul Giamatti. 

He was also known for his roles in a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens novel “Martin Chuzzlewit,” the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” the 2014 Wes Anderson comedy drama “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and 2011 ensemble comedy “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” 
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MEXICO CITY — Venezuela said Saturday it will keep nearly 6,000 troops deployed until a British military vessel sent to neighboring Guyana leaves the waters off the coast of the two South American nations.

In a video posted to X, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino appeared surrounded by military officers in front of a map of Venezuela and Guyana, a former British colony.

Padrino said the forces are “safeguarding our national sovereignty.”

“Armed forces have been deployed not just in the east of the country, but across the entire territory,” he said. “They will be there until this British imperialist boat leaves the disputed waters between Venezuela and Guyana.”

The Defense Ministry confirmed to The Associated Press that the video was made at a military base in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.

The video comes after weeks of tensions between the two countries over Venezuela’s renewed claim to a region in Guyana known as Essequibo, a sparsely populated stretch of land roughly the size of Florida that is rich in oil and minerals. Operations generate some $1 billion a year for the impoverished country of nearly 800,000 people that saw its economy expand by nearly 60% in the first half of this year.

Venezuela has long argued it was cheated out of the territory when Europeans and the U.S. set the border. Guayana, which has controlled the zone for decades, says the original agreement was legally binding and the dispute should be decided by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands.

The century-old dispute was recently reignited with the discovery of oil in Guyana and has escalated since Venezuela reported that its citizens voted in a December 3 referendum to claim Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of its smaller neighbor.

Critics of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro say the socialist leader is using the tensions to distract from internal turmoil and stoke nationalism before presidential elections next year.

In recent weeks, the leaders of Guyana and Venezuela promised in a tense meeting that neither side would use threats or force against the other. But they failed to reach agreement on how to address the bitter dispute.

Tensions increased with Friday’s arrival in Guyana of the Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Trent, which officials said had been taking part in an operation combatting drug smuggling in the Caribbean near the coast of Guyana. Most recently used to intercept pirates and drug smugglers off Africa, the ship is equipped with cannons and a landing pad for helicopters and drones and can carry about 50 marines.

Maduro said the ship’s deployment violates the shaky agreement between Venezuela and Guyana, calling its presence a threat to his country. In response, Maduro ordered Venezuela’s military — including air and naval forces — to conduct exercises near the disputed area.

“We believe in diplomacy, in dialogue and in peace, but no one is going to threaten Venezuela,” Maduro said. “This is an unacceptable threat to any sovereign country in Latin America.”

Guyana’s government rejected Maduro’s claims, with officials saying that the visit was a planned activity aimed at improving the nation’s defense capabilities and that the ship’s visit would continue as scheduled.

During talks earlier in December, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali said his nation reserved its right to work with partners to ensure the defense of his country. Guyana has a military of 3,000 soldiers, 200 sailors and four small patrol boats known as Barracudas, while Venezuela has about 235,000 active military personnel in its army, air force, navy and national guard. 
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kyiv, ukraine — Ukraine has exported about 13 million tons of merchandise on some 400 ships since setting up a protected maritime corridor in August to fend off Russian threats, a government minister said Saturday. 

While Ukraine had few military achievements on land in 2023, on the Black Sea it has pushed Russia’s much larger navy away from its coasts, allowing the resumption of grain exports. 

Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said he was “grateful” to Ukraine’s international partners “for ensuring the operation of the corridor in conditions of military aggression.” 

The corridor was created in August to link Ukraine’s ports to the Bosphorus Straits, several weeks after Moscow refused to agree on a new accord to allow cereal exports through the contested Black Sea.  

The now-defunct accord had allowed Ukraine to export nearly 33 million tons of cereals and other foodstuffs over a year.  

The sea route is particularly important now because several land border crossings have been blocked in recent months by Polish truckers unhappy with Ukrainian competition.   

Russia had threatened to target ships arriving and leaving Ukrainian ports and has attacked port and grain storage facilities.  

A Panamanian-flagged grain carrier headed to a Ukrainian port hit a mine this week, wounding two sailors.  

On Saturday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saluted his country’s maritime success, claiming that his forces had “reconquered the sea” this year. 
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TIRANA, ALBANIA — An Albanian court Saturday ordered house arrest for former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, who leads the opposition Democratic Party and is being investigated for possible corruption.

Judge Irena Gjoka of the First Instance Special Court on Corruption and Organized Crime, which covers cases involving senior officials and politicians, accepted prosecutors’ request to put Berisha, 79, under house arrest after he violated the previous restrictive measures of reporting every two weeks. He was also barred from traveling abroad.

His lawyer, Genc Gjokutaj, said the court also barred Berisha from communicating with people other than members of his family who live with him. Gjokutaj said he would appeal the court order.

“No criminal charge or new evidence supported this new request,” Gjokutaj said. “None of the legal criteria required for imposing or escalating such restrictions are met in this case.”

Albanian media outlets reported the arrival of police officers at Berisha’s apartment building in downtown Tirana. It is not clear how officers planned to monitor him.

Last week, parliament voted to strip Berisha of his legal immunity. Lawmakers loyal to Berisha tried to disrupt the session and boycotted the vote.

Berisha has criticized the investigation of him and called his arrest political repression ordered by Prime Minister Edi Rama. Depriving Berisha of communication may become a wider political issue because he’s the leader of the main opposition party.

He has warned of “powerful protests.”

“The Democratic Party calls on all Albanians and its supporters to continue our ‘today or never’ battle for the restoration of the political pluralism and [Prime Minister] Edi Rama’s deserved punishment,” Luciano Boci, a senior party leader, said at a news conference after the judge issued the order.

In October, prosecutors publicly put Berisha under investigation for allegedly abusing his post to help his son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, privatize public land to build 17 apartment buildings. Prosecutors have yet to file formal charges in court and Berisha is still technically under investigation.

“Rama’s New Year postcard is the arrest and isolation of the opposition leader!” Berisha’s son Shkelzen posted on Facebook.

Rama declined to comment on the court order authorizing Berisha’s house arrest.

“The arrest of anyone of whichever political party is never the victory of any party,” he said. “The parties win elections to take the country ahead, and the parties are not military organizations which operate to eliminate the opponents.”

Berisha served as Albania’s prime minister from 2005-13, and as president from 1992-97. He was reelected as a lawmaker for the Democratic Party in the 2021 parliamentary elections.

The United States government in May 2021 and the United Kingdom in July 2022 barred Berisha and close family members from entering their countries because of alleged involvement in corruption.

Opposition lawmakers have regularly disrupted sessions of parliament to protest the ruling Socialists’ refusal to create commissions to investigate alleged cases of corruption involving Rama and other top government officials.

The Socialists say the plans are not in line with constitutional requirements.

The disruptions are an obstacle to much-needed reforms at a time when the European Union has agreed to start the process of harmonizing Albanian laws with those of the EU as part of the Balkan country’s path toward full membership in the bloc.
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BELGRADE, SERBIA — Thousands of people rallied in Serbia’s capital Saturday, chanting “Thieves!” and accusing the populist authorities of President Aleksandar Vucic of orchestrating a fraud during a recent general election.

The rally in central Belgrade capped nearly two weeks of street protests over reported widespread irregularities during the December 17 parliamentary and local ballot — irregularities that were also noted by international election observers.

The ruling Serbian Progressive Party was declared the election winner, but the main opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence, has claimed the election was stolen, particularly in the vote for the Belgrade city authorities.

Serbia Against Violence has led daily protests since December 17 demanding that the vote be annulled and rerun. Tensions have soared following violent incidents and arrests of opposition supporters at a protest last weekend.

The crowd at the rally Saturday roared in approval at the appearance of Marinika Tepic, a leading opposition politician who has been on a hunger strike since the ballot. Tepic’s health reportedly has been jeopardized, and she was expected to be hospitalized after appearing at the rally.

“These elections must be rerun,” a frail-looking Tepic told the crowd, waving feebly from the stage and saying she doesn’t have the strength to make a longer speech.

Another opposition politician, Radomir Lazovic, urged the international community “not to stay silent” and set up a commission to investigate the irregularities and pressure authorities to hold a new election that’s free and fair.

After the speeches, participants marched by the headquarters of the state electoral commission toward Serbia’s Constitutional Court, which will ultimately rule on electoral complaints.

A protester from Belgrade, Rajko Dimitrijevic, said he came to the rally because he felt “humiliation” and the “doctoring of the people’s will.”

Ivana Grobic, also from Belgrade, said she had always joined protests “because I want a better life, I want the institutions of this country to do their job.”

It was not immediately clear if or when opposition protests would resume. The rally Saturday was organized by an independent civic initiative, ProGlas, or pro-vote, that had campaigned for high turnout ahead of the ballot.

Ruling party leader Milos Vucevic said the “small number of demonstrators” at the rally Saturday showed that “people don’t want them [the opposition].”

The opposition has urged an international probe of the vote after representatives of several global watchdogs reported multiple irregularities, including cases of vote-buying and ballot box stuffing.

Local election monitors also alleged that voters from across Serbia and neighboring countries were registered and bused in to cast ballots in Belgrade.

Vucic and his party have rejected the reports as “fabricated.”

Saturday’s gathering symbolically was organized at a central area in Belgrade that in the early 1990s was the scene of demonstrations against strongman Slobodan Milosevic’s warmongering and undemocratic policies.

Critics nowadays say that Vucic, who was an ultranationalist ally of Milosevic in the 1990s, has reinstated that autocracy in Serbia since coming to power in 2012, by taking full control over the media and all state institutions.

Vucic has said the elections were fair. He accused the opposition of inciting violence at protests with the aim of overthrowing the government under instructions from abroad, which opposition leaders have denied.

On Sunday evening, protesters tried to enter Belgrade city hall, breaking windows, before riot police pushed them back using tear gas, pepper spray and batons. Police detained at least 38 people.

Serbia is formally seeking membership in the European Union, but the Balkan nation has maintained close ties with Moscow and has refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian officials have extended full support to Vucic in the crackdown against the protesters and backed his claims that the vote was free and fair.
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MILAN — The Italian city of Venice announced new limits Saturday on the size of tourist groups, the latest move to reduce the pressure of mass tourism on the famed canal city.

Starting in June, groups will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, and the use of loudspeakers, “which can generate confusion and disturbances,” will be banned, the city said in a statement.

The city official charged with security, Elisabetta Pesce, said the policies were aimed at improving the movement of groups through Venice’s historic center as well as the heavily visited islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello.

The city previously announced plans to test a new day-tripper fee this year. The 5 euros ($5.45) per-person fee will be applied on 29 peak days between April and mid-July, including most weekends. It is intended to regulate crowds, encourage longer visits and improve the quality of life for Venice residents.

The U.N. cultural agency cited tourism’s impact on the fragile lagoon city as a major factor in it twice considering placing Venice on UNESCO’s list of heritage sites in danger.

The city escaped the first time by limiting the arrival of large cruise ships through the Giudecca Canal and again in September when it announced the roll-out of the day-tripper charge, which had been delayed when tourism declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The Bosnian Serbs’ separatist leader vowed to carry on weakening his war-scarred country to the point where it will tear apart, despite a pledge by the United States to prevent such an outcome.

“I am not irrational, I know that America’s response will be to use force … but I have no reason to be frightened by that into sacrificing (Serb) national interests,” Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-run part, told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.

He said any any attempt to use international intervention to further strengthen Bosnia’s shared, multiethnic institutions will be met by Bosnian Serb decision to abandon them completely and take the country back to the state of disunity and dysfunction it was in at the end of its brutal interethnic war in the 1990s.

Because Western democracies will not be agreeable to that, he added, “in the next stage, we will be forced by their reaction to declare full independence” of the Serb-controlled regions of Bosnia.

The Bosnian War started in 1992 when Belgrade-backed Bosnian Serbs tried to create an “ethnically pure” region with the aim of joining neighboring Serbia by killing and expelling the country’s Croats and Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslims. More than 100,000 people were killed and upward of 2 million, or over half of the country’s population, were driven from their homes before a peace agreement was reached in Dayton, Ohio, late in 1995.

The agreement divided Bosnia into two entities — the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation — which were given wide autonomy but remained linked by some shared, multiethnic institutions. It also instituted the Office of the High Representative, an international body charged with shepherding the implementation of the peace agreement that was given broad powers to impose laws or dismiss officials who undermined the fragile post-war ethnic balance, including judges, civil servants, and members of parliament.

Over the years, the OHR has pressured Bosnia’s bickering ethnic leaders to build shared, statewide institutions, including the army, intelligence and security agencies, the top judiciary and the tax administration. However, further bolstering of the existing institutions and the creation of new ones is required if Bosnia is to reach its declared goal of joining the European Union.

Dodik appeared unperturbed Friday by the statement posted a day earlier on X, formerly known as Twitter, by James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, that Washington will act if anyone tries to change “the basic element” of the 1995 peace agreement for Bosnia, and that there is “no right of secession.”

“Among Serbs, one thing is clear and definite and that is a growing realization that the years and decades ahead of us are the years and decades of Serb national unification,” Dodik said.

“Brussels is using the promise of EU accession as a tool to unitarize Bosnia,” said Dodik, who is staunchly pro-Russian, adding: “In principle, our policy still is that we want to join (the EU), but we no longer see that as our only alternative.”

The EU, he said, “had proven itself capable of working against its own interests” by siding with Washington against Moscow when Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Dodik, who has been calling for the separation of the Serb entity from the rest of Bosnia for over a decade, has faced British and U.S. sanctions for his policies but has had Russia’s support.

There are widespread fears that Russia is trying to destabilize Bosnia and the rest of the region to shift at least some world attention from its war in Ukraine.

“Whether U.S. and Britain like it or not, we will turn the administrative boundary between (Bosnia’s two) entities into our national border,” Dodik said.
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The reelection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2023 allowed him to further his plans to place Turkey as a leader in the region and in the Islamic world while engaging in rapprochement efforts with historic foes. Domestically, critics accuse Erdogan of using his mandate to silence domestic dissent. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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PARIS — The Tour d’Argent already boasts a 320,000-bottle wine cellar, a world-famous duck recipe and a storied 441-year history. Now, the legendary Paris restaurant is about to serve up its “plat de résistance”: a front-row view of two of the biggest events of 2024 — the renaissance of Notre Dame Cathedral and the 2024 Summer Olympics.

A city landmark unto itself — and an inspiration for the restaurant in the movie Ratatouille — the Tour d’Argent recently reopened after its own renovation, which preserved revered traditions while adapting to the 21st century.

”It’s very reassuring for many customers to see that such establishments are still present in our history, and in French gastronomic history,” owner and CEO André Terrail told The Associated Press.

The restaurant claims to be the oldest in Paris, its 1582 opening date embossed on the doors. It says King Henri IV ate heron pâté here; ”Sun King” Louis XIV hosted a meal here involving an entire cow; and presidents, artists like Salvador Dalí, and celebrities including Marilyn Monroe have graced its tables in the generations since.

Today the Michelin-starred restaurant remains one of the most exclusive places to dine in the French capital, out of reach for most. The simplest fixed-price lunch menu runs to 150 euros ($167), and the most affordable fixed-price dinner is 360 euros – and that’s without even peeking at the 8-kilogram book dubbed the ”bible” of its wine cellar.

But the reborn Tour d’Argent offers options for those who want to breathe in its rarefied atmosphere without investing in a full meal: A ground-floor lounge serving croissants in the morning, an adjacent bar serving fireside cocktails in the evening, and a rooftop bar open in the warmer months, where the restaurant’s breathtaking views are on full display.

Notre Dame Cathedral takes center stage in this Paris panorama, a construction site like no other. Artisans are mounting a new spire and roof on the monument, replacing those that collapsed in a 2019 fire that threatened to destroy the entire medieval cathedral.

Piece by piece, the scaffolding that enshrouds the site will come down over the course of 2024, in time for its planned December 8 reopening to the public.

For its neighbors at the Tour d’Argent, the restoration of Notre Dame is welcome news.

“Notre Dame is a landmark and probably had lost a little bit of attention to the Eiffel Tower,” Terrail said. After the fire, Notre Dame enjoyed an injection of funding, notably from the U.S. ”Lots of love coming from abroad, making sure that the cathedral was renovated,” he said.

Terrail had been mulling a makeover for the Tour d’Argent too, and finally made it happen after an 18-month closure prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID in a sense accelerated things, and also the Olympic Games, which are kind of an accelerator for everything in Paris,” he says.

“We have a front-row seat on the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It’s a great privilege. It starts just there,” he says, pointing at the spot where the unprecedented opening-day extravaganza will unfold along the River Seine on July 26.

The restaurant reopened to generally positive reviews, after years in which it had been seen as resting on its laurels. Michelin says the cuisine and service were rejuvenated ”without taking away from its nature.”

The Tour d’Argent – which translates as ”Silver Tower” — has a redesigned dining room with an open kitchen, and a top-floor one-bedroom apartment that rents for nearly 9,000 euros a night.

Its signature dish remains pressed duck, cooked in its own blood and specially carved by servers in the air instead of on a board. Since 1890, the restaurant has been giving customers certificates with the number of each duck served. They’re now well past the 1 million mark.

The bustling kitchen staff use locally grown products and closely held recipes, like a seductive “mystery egg” starter in truffle sauce.

“You have to cook the egg white, but not the yolk,” explains executive chef Yannick Franques.

“People, when they come to eat, are quite surprised when they don’t know the mystery and often come to me asking how I manage to keep the yolk raw inside and the white part cooked. Unfortunately, I can’t say, I just can’t say,” he says, smiling.

”The secret’s the secret. Voilà.”
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COMANESTI, Romania — Centuries ago, people in what is now northeastern Romania donned bearskins and danced to fend off evil spirits. That custom is today known as the Dancing Bears Festival, drawing crowds of tourists every December.

Hundreds of people of all ages, clad in bear costumes, dance every year around Christmas to the deafening beat of drums and roam villages and towns. The highlight of this year’s festival falls on December 30, with bear-clad dancers descending on the town of Comanesti, in eastern Romania, for the finale.

Visitors come from as far as Japan to see the spectacle, featuring lines of people in costumes with gaping bear jaws and claws marching and dancing. Giant red pompom decorations are usually added to the furs. Some of the “bears” jokingly growl or pretend to attack the spectators.

Locals say the custom dates back to the pre-Christianity era when people believed that wild animals staved off misfortune or danger. Dancing “bears” visited people’s homes and knocked on their doors to wish them good luck and a Happy New Year.

“The bear runs through our veins, it is the spirit animal for those in our area,” said Costel Dascalu, who started taking part in the festival when he was 8. At the time, Romania was still under communist rule and the festival was relatively low-key.

“I want to keep the tradition alive,” the 46-year-old added. When the holiday season approaches, he joked, “our breath smells like bears, and we get goose bumps when we hear the sound of drums.”

Residents are happy that the tradition has lived on after many Romanians left the region in the 1990s to look for better jobs in Western Europe.

Brown bears are widely present in Romania’s traditions and culture, and the animals can often be seen by mountain roads and in forests. Excessive bear hunting prompted the authorities to issue a ban in 2016.

Participants in the festival say most of the bearskins they use as costumes have been preserved for generations and treated with great care.

Wearing a full-sized bear fur isn’t easy: Including the head and claws, the costume could weigh up to 50 kilograms. The most expensive bearskins can cost some 2,000 euros ($2,200), according to local media. 
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This year, for the first time in modern history, Ukraine celebrated Christmas on December 25. Russia’s invasion in early 2022 prompted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to switch to the Revised Julian calendar, which aligns Christmas with the Gregorian calendar observed in the Western world instead of celebrating the holiday on January 7. Omelyan Oshchudlyak has the story. Video editor: Yuriy Dankevych
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BELGRADE, Serbia — A group of university students Friday launched a 24-hour blockade of a main street in Serbia’s capital during New Year’s holiday rush as protests continued in the troubled Balkan country after reports of irregularities that marred a recent election. 

The students set up small tents, tables and chairs, brought food and blankets and played loud music at their makeshift camp near the government headquarters in Belgrade, saying they will stay put until the start of another opposition gathering planned for Saturday. 

The student actions triggered a huge traffic gridlock in the capital Friday. 

The Saturday rally is expected to draw thousands of people as political tensions are running high over the December 17 ballot and subsequent incidents and arrests of opposition supporters at a protest last weekend.  

Populist President Aleksander Vucic has accused the opposition of inciting violence with an aim to overthrow the government under instructions from abroad, which opposition leaders have denied. 

Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party has been declared the winner of the parliamentary and local elections, but the main opposition alliance, Serbia Against Violence, has alleged that fraud took place, particularly in Belgrade.  

“I am here to fight for democracy in this country, for repeating the elections in fair conditions,” student Aleta Cacic said at Friday’s protest. 

Opposition protests daily

Serbia Against Violence has been leading daily protests in Serbia since the vote as some politicians launched hunger strikes. The populists have said the vote was fair and rejected criticism, including from international observers who noted multiple irregularities in their preliminary findings published a day after the ballot. 

Tensions soared Sunday evening, when protesters tried to enter Belgrade city hall, breaking windows before riot police pushed them back using tear gas, pepper spray and batons. Police detained at least 38 people, mostly students, many of whom were later slapped with a 30-day detention. 

Opposition leader Dragan Djilas denied allegations Friday leveled by pro-government tabloids that the opposition was planning incidents at the rally planned for Saturday. 

“No one is planning any violence,” he said. “We will not accept stolen elections and we will fight with all democratic methods.” 

Watchdogs report vote-buying

The opposition has urged an international probe of the vote after representatives of several international rights watchdogs observing the elections reported multiple irregularities, including cases of vote-buying and ballot box stuffing.  

They also noted unjust conditions for opposition candidates because of alleged mainstream media bias, abuse of public resources by the ruling party. They say Vucic dominated the ruling party’s campaign and media time allocated for candidates, even though he was not running himself.  

Serbia is formally seeking membership in the European Union, but the Balkan nation has maintained close ties with Moscow and has refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. 

Russia supports crackdown on protesters

Russian officials have extended full support to Vucic in the crackdown against the protesters and backed his claims that the vote was free and fair.  

Russia’s Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko has said that the protest Saturday and other planned opposition actions over the holidays represent “a very dangerous period” for “return of the violence” but added that Serbia’s authorities have full control of the situation. 

The Moscow ties came into focus this week when Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic thanked Russia’s security services for allegedly tipping off Serbia that violence was in the works. 

Both Serbian and Russian officials have alleged a Western-backed ploy to stir political instability in Serbia like the 2014 pro-Western protests in Ukraine that resulted in the ouster of a pro-Russia leadership there. 
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