Unacceptable prevention of journalists and cameramen from covering the Vidovdan celebration in front of the National Assembly of Serbia.
During the commemoration of Vidovdan organized by the SNS in front of the Serbian National Assembly, we were once again able to confirm that this area is "forbidden" for journalistic teams from certain editorial offices. The team from Insajder television attempted to conduct a survey in the enclosed space but was prevented by an aggressive young man, a participant in the SNS gathering, who physically obstructed them from conducting the survey while threatening and insulting them, insisting that they leave the area, which the team from this editorial office had to comply with.
Unwanted journalistic teams at this SNS gathering are reporting from the location at the beginning of King Alexander Boulevard, about thirty meters from the fenced area. The aforementioned individual who expelled the TV Insajder crew exited that space, obstructing Nenad Nešić, a reporter for TV N1, during a live broadcast, blocking the camera with his body while making offensive comments. He then continued to disrupt the journalistic teams of Newsmax, Al Jazeera Balkans, the Fonet agency, and the daily newspaper Danas in the same manner. Although the journalists informed the police officers present about this unacceptable interference during their work, there was no response from the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
A member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists and the coordinator of the SOS hotline for reporting attacks on journalists, Veran Matić, arrived at this location, unsuccessfully trying to remove the person who was obstructing the journalists and cameramen. He addressed the members of the present intervention unit, but was told that they were monitoring the events and had not noticed any violence.
“I tried to get in touch with the department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for the safety of journalists, but they were not available. Then I called the Ministry's duty service and reported this unacceptable, threatening obstruction full of insults. After some time, members of the Department for Public Order and Peace of the Ministry appeared, stating that they would resolve the problem, which they did by returning the aggressor to the fenced area. What is disturbing and unacceptable is that the harassment and obstruction lasted almost an hour, and that the police present did not react preventively. Their explanation that no violation of public order and peace was observed because ‘you are filming him - he is filming you’ is an unacceptable trivialization of preventing media, reporter-journalists, and cameramen from doing their job and informing the public. Equating professionals with an aggressor is unacceptable to the same extent that the police's failure to respond is justified by claiming that no violence occurred. I remind you that at this ‘forbidden city’ location, this is the thirteenth incident characterized by preventing journalists from doing their work, accompanied by the passive stance of present police officers who do not react preventively or after attacks occur. Therefore, we will firmly demand that the police protect journalists while they perform their duties and that those who obstruct them or threaten their safety are prevented from doing so and sanctioned.”
