?Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that he would call early national parliamentary elections for December 17 amid ongoing mass protests against his government.

'Serbia is at a turning point, let the citizens say what kind of politics they want,' Vucic told the government-affiliated private TV station Prva Srpska on Thursday evening.

He said he would offically call early elections by November 2, as stipulated by the constitution.

Weekly demonstrations against the government began after two mass shootings in May left 18 people dead, including a school massacre committed by a 13-year-old pupil in Belgrade.

Participants in the protests accuse the media controlled by Vucic of fuelling a climate of hatred and glorification of violence in the country.

Serbs elected the current parliament in April of last year.

Vucic's right-wing nationalist party SNS, together with its allies, has a comfortable majority.

Early elections are common in Serbia.

Vucic rules with a heavy hand over the country, and large parts of the Serbian media, judiciary and bureaucracy are in the hands of close allies and supporters of the president, who also chaired the SNS party until earlier this year.

Source: Ghana News Agency