Dveri party

Rising Star
Bosko Obradovic. Photo: BIRN

One of the rising stars of the '1 of 5 million' protests, which have been going on for months in Serbia, is Bosko Obradovic, the leader of the right-wing Dveri party. Deeply conservative, claims to espouses traditional Serbian values and supports closer ties with Russia.

Belgrade's protests ended, and people went home after special forces of the Serbian police took out protesters from the nation's RTS television, TASS reported.

Opposition Leaders Dragan Dzillas and Bosko Obradovic, leader of the Dveri Party, were among the last out of the RTS building. Then the gathered tried to penetrate the building again, but the police pushed them with shields.

Serbian citizens who have been protesting weekly against President Aleksandar Vucic's regime stormed the building of the Serbian national broadcaster RTS on Saturday evening, and were forcefully expelled by police.

Some of the protesters were injured when police in riot gear cleared the premises around 10.30pm.

Moldovan pro-Russian President Igor Dodon left on Monday for a new pilgrimage to Orthodox monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece which are canonically subordinate to Moscow's Patriarchy, months ahead of the legislative elections scheduled for the beginning of 2019.

With the date of the Belgrade City Assembly election set for March 4, voters will soon be choosing between various party and coalition lists, some of which have caused surprise.

The Socialist Party, a junior partner in the ruling parliamentary coalition, will be going it alone in the Belgrade vote.

While intolerance towards migrants is rising in many parts of Europe, and in Serbia, this is not the case in the remote Serbian town of Bosilegrad in Serbia, which is asking the Serbian government to send them some.

Bookmakers in Serbia say the odds are heavily in favour of the Prime Minister and head of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, winning the presidential election.

The chances of him winning outright in the first round are slightly lower than his chances of winning in the second round, however, they said.

Opposition party leaders and presidential candidates gathered in parliament on Thursday protesting against speaker Maja Gojkovic's decision to suspend parliament's work until after the presidential election in April.

They accused Gojkovic of suspending democracy itself, and some suggested the opposition would express its discontent on the streets.

In an interview with Serbian tabloid Kurir on Tuesday, President Tomislav Nikolic said there is no reason for the ruling Progressives not to support him as their candidate in the upcoming presidential election, which is expected to be held no later than April this year.

Vucic repeatedly lashed out at opposition MPs in the parliamentary chamber on Monday and Tuesday during sessions held to discuss next year's budget.

He accused the far-right Dveri party of trying, with the help of the US ambassador to Belgrade, to rig this year's parliamentary elections, which his own Serbian Progressive Party won.