Serbia: EFJ calls on the police to protect journalists covering the protests
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Serbian affiliates the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS-NUNS) in calling on the police to immediately stop the violence against journalists and to protect them while they are covering the clashes between rival groups of protesters in Serbia, as months of anti-government demonstrations boiled over into street violence.
A wave of anti-corruption protests has gripped Serbia since November, when the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station roof killed 16 people, a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption.
Late on Wednesday, protesters again gathered in several cities across Serbia, mainly in response to an attack by ruling party supporters on demonstrators in the town of Vrbas, about 160 km north of Belgrade. For the second night running, large groups of pro-government supporters, most wearing masks, confronted protesters. The two groups hurled bottles, stones and fireworks at each other.
During the demonstrations on Thursday evening, in Belgrade, supporters of the ruling SNS party charged journalists covering the events, who were gathered outside the General Staff building. The journalists were caught between the two rival groups. As there was no police cordon separating the journalists from the SNS supporters, the latter, acting in an organised manner and with the intention of attacking and intimidating, rushed towards the journalists, insulting them.
In Novi Sad, plainclothes police officers prevented Zoomer journalist Marina Nenadović from filming the arrest and mistreatment of a citizen by the police. In New Belgrade, a photojournalist was harassed by members of the police brigade while photographing the police. A plainclothes officer pulled Zoomer’s journalist by the arm in an attempt to seize her phone.
After covering the protest in Novi Sad, Sanja Ignjatović Eker, a correspondent for TV Nova, received multiple vile threats, after TV Informer launched a smear campaign against her. One of the messages even included a threat to murder her child.
Journalists from N1, Žaklina Tatalović and Mladen Savatović, also received death threats via social media. In recent days, the highest state officials, supported by pro-government tabloids, have intensified a coordinated campaign against N1 and Nova (United Media), branding these networks as “media poison factories” and even “terrorist organizations”. “This rhetoric has moved beyond political criticism and entered the realm of systematic persecution, creating an environment in which physical attacks, death threats, and harassment of our journalists are not only tolerated but effectively encouraged,” said United Media CEO Aleksandra Subotić.
The EFJ calls on the Serbian judicial authorities to initiate the necessary legal proceedings. It also joins UNS and NUNS in calling on high-ranking government officials to stop their smear campaigns against journalists. “The police and state institutions must take responsibility for the violence committed by their members, their operational failures, and inaction, and must begin resolving these cases,” said NUNS.
“It is clear that the Serbian authorities are actively involved in the brutal repression of journalists who are just trying to do their job. With our affiliates in Serbia, we document all these cases of violence. The perpetrators have been identified. They will be held to account”, said the EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez.
