At a conference on preventing violence against women, just one of the four ministers present – Tatjana Macura, the minister without portfolio – explicitly condemned Thursday’s attack on an N1 television crew near the regime-supporter encampment nicknamed Caciland.
The fenced-off encampment has occupied the Pioneers’ Park and the area outside the Serbian Parliament and Presidency buildings since early March 2025.
“Not just me – all my colleagues in the Serbian Government stand firmly against every form of violence directed at journalists, not only those from your television station but from many others too. We cannot and will not make any distinctions,” Macura said in response to a question from an N1 reporter.
She added that she would like “for us all to redouble our efforts to build a society free of violence together”.
“As for journalists, both the Government and the relevant ministry have condemned, and naturally continue to condemn, absolutely all attacks on any journalist in Serbia, without exception,” said Macura, who is responsible for gender equality, the prevention of violence against women, and the economic and political empowerment of women.
She did, however, criticize N1, remarking that she sees no positive coverage of the Serbian Government’s work on our program.
The conference, titled Let’s Break the Silence – Together, was also attended by Minister for Human and Minority Rights Demo Berisa, Minister of Labor Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski, and Justice Minister Nenad Vujic.
None of them, however, wished to comment on the attack on the N1 crew. Minister Vujic just briefly remarked that Minister Macura’s position reflects the stance of the other government representatives.
On Thursday, November 20, in full view of police, a group of young men dressed in black came out Caciland and approached an N1 crew while they were on assignment. One of them proceeded to smash their camera and tripod, while police officers stood by and watched in silence.
The attacker is suspected to be an individual who, by his own admission, was sentenced to a combined 35 years for murder and robbery. His sentence was cut in half because he was a young adult at the time of sentencing, which he himself said on Happy TV.
According to Radio Free Europe, he has been convicted since then as well – receiving a year and a half for assault. He was a fugitive for a time before eventually turning himself in to serve his sentence.
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) said this was the 17th recorded attack on journalists in the immediate vicinity of the regime-supporter encampment.
The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) has called a solidarity rally for Monday at 7 pm in front of the Serbian Parliament building, demanding freedom to report.
The rally is intended both as a show of support for the attacked N1 crew and for all journalists who have been targeted while working in the public interest.
Source: N1
