April 17, 2025
Last weekend, The Serbian president organised a three-day rally of his supporters in Belgrade last weekend, representing an attempt to respond to the mass gatherings of students and citizens.
Many attacks on journalists were recorded over the course of those three days:
– Zoran Strika, deputy editor-in-chief of 021, was physically assaulted while filming Vučić supporters who’d arrived by organised transport from Novi Sad to attend the rally staged in Belgrade by the ruling party.
– Vučić supporters insulted and targeted a lady reporter of Television N1, while the police banned her from reporting from the front of the column of people walking to the rally in Belgrade. The TV N1 team was later also verbally abused, during the rally itself.
– A journalist and crew members of Zrenjanin’s KTV were attacked during the rally in Belgrade. One member of the TV crew had three teeth knocked out, while the others received scrapes and bruises.
– A female journalist of Istinomer was attacked while filming the tents erected by Vučić’s extreme supporters in front of the Serbian National Assembly. When she spoke about the incident to a policeman, he told her that he was being cautious because they treat police the same way.
– A team of Al Jazeera journalists was forbidden by police from filming Aleksandar Vučić’s rally from the balcony of a building.
– Serbian Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabić directly imperilled the work of news agency Fonet and the security of its journalists and employees by claiming that Fonet had called for the assassination of the President of Serbia when conveying the statement of lawyer Božo Prelević, according to an announcement of this agency. Fonet didn’t publish any statement of the lawyer Prelević, who claims he never even gave a statement.
