Attacks on photojournalists and cameramen in the spotlight of the police, parapolice, and aggressors.

On the Instagram profile "poljoprivredniblokada", it was reported that yesterday in Novi Pazar, their photographer was harassed by members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs while covering events around the State University of Novi Pazar. The police allegedly grabbed him by the arm, demanded identification, and ordered him to delete the photos he had taken — which he did. After this unacceptable act, masked police officers in balaclavas approached him, behaving more aggressively, issuing threats of violence, cursing, and making nationalist slurs. They demanded to see his photo gallery, which had already been erased by the first police team’s orders. The statement concludes: "Attacks on reporters are becoming more frequent because they don’t want the people to know the truth!"

At the same time, during a solidarity protest in Kraljevo last night, an incident was provoked by SNS members who sprayed water at police and peaceful citizens from party offices and threw eggs at them. In the unprovoked police intervention that followed, a police officer hit Nova S TV cameraman Dragan Jeković on his hands and camera, injuring him and preventing him from doing his job.

Photographers and cameramen are often on the front line of the attacks on media workers in last couple of months. Even before the protests that began in November of last year, during earlier demonstrations and violent events, they were frequently attacked and injured.

Since November — specifically, since the unsanctioned attacks on Euronews and N1 cameramen on November 5 in Novi Sad — photographers and cameramen have become planned targets of paramilitary units guarding SNS gatherings, regular police, and especially masked intervention units.

In addition to the aforementioned individuals, N1’s Aleksandar Cvrkotić is regularly targeted with attempts to damage his equipment. On Vidovdan, during a gendarmerie intervention, FoNet cameramen Zoran Drekalović and Darko Pavlović were assaulted and injured, while an assistant from N1 suffered serious injuries. Marjan Vučetić was physically attacked near Kosjerić in the presence of the SNS president.

Freelance photographer and journalist Gavrilo Andrić, who captured some of the most striking images of the student and civic protests, is a frequent target of attacks by ruling party members and has been detained multiple times by police. He has also received death threats.

Photographer Aleksa Stanković has also been attacked multiple times, most severely by police officers who, according to his account, tortured him in a police vehicle due to footage he had taken two days earlier showing officers making vulgar remarks to women in public. He was repeatedly slapped, and his head was slammed into the window of the vehicle. His memory card was destroyed, and they demanded he delete his Instagram profile.

Journalist Darko Gligorijević was detained overnight, and the phone he used to record an incident was returned to him only a week later. YouTuber Neven Krstić and his cameraman were brutally beaten by unidentified assailants in Pionirski Park while trying to report. In Novi Sad unknown attackers also seized journalist Zoran Strika’s phone (Radio 021) and threw it into the Danube River.

These are just a few examples of violence against photographers and cameramen in recent months.

ANEM calls on the Ministry of the Interior and Police Directorate to issue orders explicitly banning violence against photographers, cameramen, and journalists. We call on the Internal Control Department to investigate all cases involving police attacks or torture against media workers.

We also urge newsrooms to provide photographers, cameramen, and journalists with protective equipment and consider assigning an additional team member to improve their safety in the field.

We call on journalists' associations and trade unions to place special emphasis on protecting freelance journalists, photographers, and cameramen — as they are often the most vulnerable due to lacking the institutional support of a parent media outlet.

ANEM expresses special recognition for freelancers, who have become an increasingly vital part of the media community — particularly at a time when there are fewer professional media outlets. Their work, often shared on social media, is a crucial contribution to objective reporting and transparency, especially when covering high-risk events for media workers.

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

 

Project "Violence prevention system and protection of journalists" is implemented by ANEM with partners Insajder TV & Center for local media development, with support from EU and Balkan Trust for Democracy.