Group journalists who reported from the protest in the center of Belgrade on Thursday, August 14, she was the target of attacks, insults and threats by a group of thugs who threw pyrotechnics at the demonstrators during the evening.
According to Vreme and Zoomer media reports, after a conflict broke out in Nemanja Street in front of demonstrators and supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party, who were in front of their party's premises, a group of thugs attacked a large number of gathered journalists who had visible "press" signs and chased them down Birčaninova Street shouting "come on, shoot, shoot now".
"I'm going to kill you, I'm your mother," the group yelled at the female and male journalists as they chased after them.
The police are not responding.
Although there were a large number of uniformed and plainclothes policemen on the streets of Belgrade, no one reacted or tried to prevent the attack on the media workers who were doing their work in the field.
The only reaction of the police, recorded last night, was that they tried to prevent journalists from reporting because they did not allow them to record the arrest of a citizen in Belgrade, as reported by the student portal Pulse Generation.
"Don't interfere with police action," a plainclothes man with a police badge around his neck can be heard saying on the video.
By the way, we are witnessing that for several nights in a row, the police do not react to the violence coming from SNS supporters armed with pyrotechnics, clubs and poles on the streets of cities across Serbia, but instead escort them to certain locations, attack and arrest demonstrators who retaliate against those groups.
Competent to react urgently
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns such cases and once again appeals to all citizens not to disturb journalists while reporting on public events.
We call on the competent authorities to urgently identify and sanction the attackers of media representatives in the center of Belgrade, as well as to protect all media workers in public places and enable them to perform their work professionally.
We also appeal to the representatives of the police not to act selectively when disrupting public order and peace at protest gatherings.
We invite colleagues to be in a group and help each other at violent events.
The author is a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists and the President of the Supervisory Board
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)
The project "System of prevention of violence and protection of journalists" is implemented by ANEM with partners Insider TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union and the Balkan Fund for Democracy.
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