The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) strongly condemns multiple incidents and threats recorded during and after yesterday’s rally of SNS supporters in Belgrade and calls for an urgent and effective response by the competent authorities.
At least three incidents occurred over the course of the day.
As a group of SNS supporters arrived at the rally on Kralja Milana Street, several individuals within the group insulted the KTV Zrenjanin crew and Nemanja Šarović, struck Šarović on the arm, kicked the microphone, which fell onto the street, and threw pyrotechnic devices in his direction. Video footage shows a police cordon standing in the immediate vicinity, yet despite shouts from citizens and the journalists present, the police did not react to the evident violence and disturbance of public order.
While Insider TV reporter Stefan Miljuš was interviewing a woman attending the rally, two unidentified men approached him, grabbed him by the arms, and pulled him aside, refusing to identify themselves. When he asked whether they would allow him to return to his crew, they told him: “Don’t create a problem for no reason. Just stand there.” The police again failed to respond.
After the rally, Verica Marinčić, a journalist with In Media from Inđija, was threatened by a security guard in the tent encampment, who demanded that she move away from the area directly in front of the National Assembly and called on colleagues to intervene against the journalist.
Earlier in the day, while reporting on SNS members departing from Stara Pazova to the rally in Belgrade, Stefana Budimirović, a reporter for the portal Pazovačke.rs, was, despite identifying herself, pushed from behind, insulted, and prevented from filming.
In addition to these on-site incidents, IJAS recorded new online threats made by social media user Zoran Cvijanović, who sent the following message to N1 TV journalist Sanja Kosović: “Read this, the Black Hand has marked you, watch out, friend.” We recall that the same person previously sent identical threatening messages to journalists, professors, and activists, including Aleksandra Krstić, Smiljana Milinkov, and Vojin Radovanović. Although prior threats were duly reported to the competent prosecutor’s office, there is no information about action in this case, indicating that the perpetrator still has not been sanctioned.
IJAS particularly warns that the lack of timely and visible police response to attacks and obstruction of journalists’ work at public gatherings is a direct risk factor for further escalation of violence. Such passivity, coupled with inflammatory rhetoric and the targeting of media by top state officials, creates an atmosphere of impunity and further endangers the safety of journalists, especially those reporting from protests and public assemblies. The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation recorded 163 verbal attacks on journalists by public officials last month. We also recall the findings of the European Commission, which in its report on Serbia notes that the targeting of journalists by public officials worsens the safety of media workers, particularly during public gatherings.
IJAS demands that the Ministry of Interior (MUP) urgently identify and prosecute the attackers on the KTV crew and Nemanja Šarović, as well as those who obstructed the work of the Insider reporter and the In Media journalist, and those who attacked the Pazovačke.rs journalist.
We again stress that the Internal Control of the MUP and the competent prosecutor’s offices must establish accountability for the failure of police officers, who were in the immediate vicinity of the incidents, to respond.
It is also necessary for the competent prosecutor’s offices to act urgently on reports of past and current threats against journalists and ensure that the perpetrators are sanctioned.
We further appeal to public officials to immediately cease rhetoric that targets the media and thus fuels violence.
IJAS will inform domestic and international organizations that monitor media freedom and journalists’ safety about these cases. We call on colleagues to report every attack, threat, or obstruction of work immediately to the police and the prosecutor’s office, to document incidents (photo/video), and to forward information to IJAS so that we can provide legal and other support.
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
Belgrade, 6 November 2025.
