ANEM: There must be accountability of the police for attacks on journalists and cameramen.

Although he identified himself as a journalist, the organizer and assistant cameraman for TV N1, Jovan Pavlović, was struck with a baton by a police officer last night during the protests in Belgrade while lying on the ground in a yellow press vest. The incident occurred on Kneza Miloša Street after citizens, unlike the police, allowed an ambulance to pass, which prompted the police to begin pushing the gathered crowd toward the intersection with Kralja Milana Street. According to a medical report issued by the University Clinical Center of Serbia, Pavlović sustained a contusion to the shoulder area of his left arm. The doctors noted intense pain in the shoulder and upper arm and recommended rest, immobilization of the arm, analgesic and local therapy.

When Danas journalist Vojin Radovanović attempted to record an arrest with his phone, a plainclothes member of the Gendarmerie grabbed his arm and pushed him away, and as he began to move away, he kicked him forcefully in the backside.

FoNet news agency cameraman Darko Pavlović was struck several times in the back and hit with tear gas during the intervention of the Gendarmerie cordon at the intersection near London in downtown Belgrade.

FoNet cameraman Zoran Drekalović was hit with a baton on the arm holding the camera and knocked to the ground with a shield during the intervention of the Gendarmerie cordon on Kralja Milana Street, not far from the intersection with Kneza Miloša Street. The incident occurred during the Gendarmerie's charge, which had previously deployed tear gas and began to push protesters from the intersection toward Slavija Square. Standing aside, leaning against a tree, Drekalović, in a yellow press vest, was facing the cordon and filming the Gendarmerie's action when one of them struck him on the arm holding the camera with a baton, and then knocked him onto the sidewalk with a shield. The first rows of the cordon jumped over him in their charge toward the protesters, after which one of the Gendarmerie members helped him get up from the sidewalk where he had been lying on his back.

An unknown young man, a participant in the SNS gathering, threatened and insulted the Insajder television crew, forcing them out of the area where the program was taking place. He then stepped outside the fenced area and obstructed the live report of TV N1 reporter Nenad Nešić, blocking the camera with his body and uttering insults.

He then did the same with the crews of TV Newsmax Balkans, TV Al Jazeera Balkans, Danas, and FoNet. Only after the intervention of Veran Matić, a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, and several calls to the police, did members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Department for Public Order and Peace return the aggressive young man to the fenced area.

ANEM demands an investigation by the internal control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the attacks on journalists involving police officers. Since the protests in June 2020, not a single case of police assaults on journalists has been resolved. After the December 2023 protests, during which journalists and television crews were attacked, some members of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists met with commanders of intervention units to provide them with information about the attacks. Although they received assurances that the mentioned cases would be investigated, there have been no results to date. At that time, following protocols in other countries that would educate police officers about the importance of journalistic work in protecting the public interest, we requested the establishment of a special protocol for the behavior of intervention unit members toward journalists reporting on violent events. Unfortunately, there has been no progress in the systemic protection of journalists while attacks during mass gatherings continue to occur repeatedly.

It should also be noted that journalists, as well as cameramen, are subjected to attacks and insults by aggressors in front of police officers who ignore these attacks. At the same time, the police also attack journalists during interventions, regardless of their proper identification. Therefore, we once again call on institutions to do their job and protect media workers, and for newsrooms to show mutual solidarity and provide protection.

Veran Matić, President of the ANEM Management Board and member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists