Members of private security clashed with citizens in front of the city assembly in Belgrade. Who are the companies that provide city facilities?
The session was held on Thursday (March 6) in an unusual environment Belgrade City Assembly.
While the city parliament was debating, private security hired by the government, clashed with citizens who had gathered in front.
Among the security guards were employees of two private security companies - Atlas Security and T&M Group Solutions.
In a consortium with another company, Sparta Security d.o.o., these companies received the job of securing City Administration facilities on the basis of a framework agreement signed with them by the Secretariat for General Affairs of the City of Belgrade, which is responsible for physical-technical and fire protection.
According to the agreement, concluded on September 27, 2024, those companies, as the only bidders, were awarded a job worth more than 1,5 million euros for the provision of city administration facilities for a period of six months.
The documentation from the public procurement portal shows that a number of tasks have been contracted - such as entry control, checking the identity of persons entering or leaving the facility, prohibiting unauthorized persons from accessing the facility, but also issuing orders to remove unauthorized persons.
According to the Law on Private Security, legal entities and entrepreneurs who have a license to perform private security operations cannot carry out protection of persons and property that are under the exclusive competence of state authorities and apply operational methods and means, i.e. operational-technical means and methods that those authorities apply on the basis of special regulations.
Who checks private security?
Nikola Jovanović from the Center for Local Self-Government tells "Vreme" that it is a big problem that private security is entrusted with securing public facilities and adds that it should be done by public authorities.
On Thursday (March 6), members of the private security provided identification and clashed with citizens in front of the Belgrade Assembly building, and then members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came.
"The question arises whether the MUP supervises private security." Today, during the incident, when people from the Stari grad police station came, they were supposed to check who attacked the members of the security, but they should also check and report the citizens, activists, whether the security went too far in some measures, whether they have identification cards, whether they are working according to the law. The police should not be blamed if the company has a contract with the City Assembly, if it provides security in accordance with the law, the police must go to the field, but they must also supervise private security", says Jovanović, adding that this did not happen.
As he adds, the MUP should check that no one has a dubious past, that they have undergone training, that they have licenses.
Jovanović also points to another problem - the idea of private security taking over the stage function.
"It is a huge danger, because in this legal framework, the only legal way is to create joint bodies with the Ministry of Interior. Instead of cooperation, we now have the idea that private security, which is poorly controlled, will also take over the functions of the MUP, such as patrolling, police functions, and public security. It is a danger that cannot be compared to the incidents of who beat whom," explains Jovanović.
What does private security do in front of the city assembly?
How can they legitimize anyone?
Who are they to beat up citizens?
Will they be prosecuted?You are just repressing…
Every action force has a reaction force.— ETF Blockade (@etfblokada) March 6, 2025
The future Belgrade security service?
According to him, there are reports that these two companies could get a job within the future Belgrade Security Service, whose establishment was announced by the Mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić.
"These are the companies that get jobs, according to our sources, and those two companies would also get the Belgrade Security Service." "Public security is the job of the MUP and should not be the job of private companies," says Jovanović.
The formation of this service was announced by the mayor at the end of 2024, but there are many questions that arise regarding the competence of this service.
Namely, the City of Belgrade does not have original competences in the field of security, but can exclusively deal with communal order. The MUP is in charge of security, so without changes to the law, it is only possible to improve cooperation with the MUP, Nikola Jovanović reminded earlier.
"Neither is there a legal basis for private companies to take over public security, nor is it clear that the regular police, utility workers, or policemen are not used for that." Of course, it remains to be seen how much money will be poured into private security firms. That's all very controversial," Jovanović explained earlier for "Vreme".
Who are the companies that provide city facilities?
In front of the town hall there were the most persons with the mark of private security T&M Group solutions. The owner of that company is former handball player Dane Šijan.
Mila Popović, the president of the city committee of the Freedom and Justice Party, reminds "Vreme" that vehicles with the markings of this company were spotted near the "Štark Arena", when, as opposition representatives claim, voters from Republika Srpska were brought to vote in the Belgrade elections in December 2023.
The company T&M Group Solutions was founded at the end of May 2022 in Belgrade and since then has been engaged in more than 50 jobs financed from the budget - from washing and ironing hospital bed linen to meter reading, RSE reports.
As they state, in addition to public procurement, the T&M Group Solutions company also has framework agreements with various state authorities. In this way, independently or in a group with several bidders, they were engaged in government jobs worth more than 177 million euros.
In addition to T&M Group Solutions, the company Atlas security doo was also engaged in securing City Administration facilities. The company was founded in 2013, and it is headed by Veljko Simić. And this company has been getting numerous jobs from Belgrade and the state for years. In the last four years, on the basis of public procurement, they were engaged in jobs worth around 6,3 million euros, RSE writes.
And the third member of the consortium that was assigned the job of securing the City Administration, the Sparta security company has been working on numerous government jobs since 2020. Independently or in a group of bidders, Sparta security is engaged in sixteen different physical and technical security jobs, according to data from the public procurement portal. The total value of these contracts is more than 22,4 million euros. In six of the 16 jobs, Sparta Security was hired together with T&M Group Solutions.
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