The Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists met on Thursday in Niš due to numerous attacks on journalists in the city over the weekend.

This new "service regulation" was established in the "forbidden city" in the center of Belgrade, which encompasses the area occupied by the children's Pioneer Park and a tent settlement set up in the middle of one of the busiest boulevards, in front of the National Assembly of Serbia. Any journalist from independent media who attempted to report on events in this area was systematically obstructed and assaulted, with the police assisting the aggressors.

ANEM and the OSCE Mission in Serbia, along with representatives from journalist associations and members of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, are organizing a meeting on Thursday, May 22, in Niš with journalists and representatives from the prosecution and police to discuss specific cases and issues in prosecuting attacks, as well as ways to improve the position of female and male journalists who have been under continuous assault for years.

On Saturday in Niš, the organizers of the event did not provide accreditations to journalists from independent media, forcing numerous teams to report from outside the fenced area where the rally addressed by the President of Serbia was taking place. Journalists without accreditation tags were marked as "must be opposition," as one of the participants—likely from security—labeled journalist Nikola Doderović, a correspondent for SBS Radio, attempting to push him away or snatch the camera he was using to film in a public space. This individual possibly suggested to the police that they should check Doderović’s identification, leading to his detention at the police station, from where he was released without any charges after more than an hour of discussions and consultations between the police and the prosecutor.

Security representatives at the event were stopping citizens on the bridge, not allowing them to pass through the fenced area. They also demanded that journalists filming such events delete their recordings.

The correspondent for Nova S television, Ivana Marković, along with the cameraman from the same station, faced obstruction and was physically pushed out of the area where they were filming their report, accompanied by loud shouting and the use of a megaphone. It was only when the Nova S team managed to call a police officer nearby that, instead of intervening against those who were obstructing and pushing the journalist, they directed her to leave the scene along with the cameraman, thereby preventing her from continuing her journalistic work. The entire incident took place during the rendition of the national anthem.

The climax of this incident-filled day occurred with a physical attack on one of the best journalists from Niš, Tamara Radovanović from Južne vesti, who was awarded a national prize for investigative journalism in local communities just a few weeks prior. While filming the departure of participants from the square where the rally took place, she was physically attacked by an individual evidently connected to the event's security. When the assailant attempted to seize the phone the journalist was using to film the event, twisting her arm and pushing her, a police officer present responded by removing the journalist from the scene, preventing her from performing her job, while the attacker remained on site without being identified or detained.

This pattern has repeated itself, suggesting that the police act as a service to the aggressors, who are clearly part of unidentified security. The next day, it turned out, as in other such cases, that the attacker was known, as was the individual filmed in Niš—another aggressor against journalists, a former police officer who attacked journalist Uglješa Bokić from Danas in June of last year.

More than twenty physical attacks on journalists since the beginning of student and civil protests have yet to receive judicial conclusions or final verdicts. It is characteristic that those who cannot defend themselves are attacked first, mainly cameramen, then female journalists, and subsequently all journalists who often undertake the task of filming events with mobile phones.

In all these cases, the production of hate speech by representatives of the authorities is key, as well as the targeting of journalists who work professionally and media that are demonized as hostile, which gives a green light to aggressors, activists, and security personnel to attack freely, while the police provide additional protection for such unacceptable behavior.

Only through very responsible reactions from the relevant authorities, primarily often members of the Ministry of Interior, can attacks be prevented and aggressors effectively sanctioned. Similarly, effective responses and actions from the prosecution are necessary. Statistics and events indicate that the police protect the attackers, and the prosecution does not influence the Ministry of Interior representatives to respect the law and respond to requests for information gathering regarding attacks on journalists.

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