Serbia: CFWIJ condemns police violence towards journalists covering protests. Women are particularly targeted.

July 11, 2020, Belgrade, Serbia -- The Coalition For Women In Journalism has been following the protests that broke out in Serbia last week. Our sources and journalism organizations also reported on police violence directed towards both protesters and journalists. IPI documented 11 incidents of violence towards journalists, three of them being women.

The demonstrations erupted after President Aleksandar Vučić announced on July 7th that a weekend curfew would be re-imposed in an effort to combat the pandemic despite previously holding recent presidential elections without special measures. Serbians have been warning the government to take better measures, run more tests and provide the public with transparent information on the number of infected. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism spoke to Branka Vuković, International Secretary of Youth of Freedom and Justice Party (Stranka slobode i pravde) on the background of protests: “It is misinterpreted in the media that these are protests against another lockdown. We didn't mind staying at home for two months in March and April, people respected all the measures, three days wouldn't be such a challenge. 

However, the problem is that the government has again brought us into this situation by deliberately not stating the number of patients and deaths from the coronavirus and giving up on all measures in the short term with only one goal - so that they can hold elections. 

If you turn on the TV and listen to anyone from the ruling party, they will now tell you that the hospitals are full, that we do not have the equipment or enough medical staff to fight the virus, while in previous months they said that everything was under control and that we had a health care system that others can only dream of.” said Vukovic, adding: “The protest started as a protest against lies, manipulation, insecurity and mistrust that we feel because of the decisions made by the government, but what kept us on the street was the brutality of the police and that angered even more people.”

Branka highlighted that the protests are against a broken system where the parliamentary mandate is more valuable than human life.

The protests turned violent on the night of July 7th with journalists recording the violence live. N1 reporter Jelena Zorić was teargassed and her crew was pushed by plainclothes police as they reported on police beating peaceful protesters sitting in a park in central Belgrade. 

We talked to Jelena about the incident who said: “I reported during the first night of the protests. I haven’t suffered any direct physical attack or threats. There were insults and tense moments but I don’t react to the insults; in fact, whenever I can, I give people who insult the company I work with or myself a chance to speak. 

Fortunately, we escaped a car - driven by a  still unidentified man - running into a group of demonstrators and the cameraman and myself while we were in a live programme. That was a stressful situation.”

When asked about the possible traumatic impact it might have had on Jelena, she said it was not particularly traumatic for her to work during riots and under teargas. She explained she tried to adjust to the situation in order to be cautious and to continue doing her job.

Another disturbing incident happened when Nova.rs journalists Milica Božinović and Nataša Latković were attacked by riot police while reporting on the protests on July 8th. According to a report by Nova.rs, the police pushed Milica and then hit her twice on the fingers with a truncheon, knocking the phone out of her hand while Nataša’s press ID was taken from her hand and thrown to the ground while they were trying to tell the police that they were journalists.

Above mentioned attack wasn’t the first act of violence Milica Božinović faced when reporting on the ground, just a day earlier, she was inappropriately hit on the hips with a truncheon by a riot police officer while she was trying to help an injured protester.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism considers this action as not only violent but also as a form of harassment and an attempt at intimidating and humiliating Milica.

“We have been recording a terrible decline in press freedom for years, according to official data from the European Commission and Freedom House. However the Serbian people need free press now more than ever. The coverage of N1 for instance -- whose journalists were attacked --  on unproportional use of force by the police became one of the symbols of the protests. If they weren’t there, the question is would we ever find out about it. I know how hard it is for these journalists to do their job in the right way in this country, especially women in journalism, to see that they are now physically assaulted was horrible.” said Branka Vuković on the incidents.

The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) called on authorities to find those responsible and urged both police and citizens to stand up for the protection of journalists with numerous other organizations including CPJ and IPI condemning the violence.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism follows the deterioration of freedom of press in Serbia with great concern. With the protests now calming down according to our sources, we call upon Serbian authorities to investigate the acts of violence journalists faced and ensure safety of journalists in the country. 

*We would like to thank Ana Dale, Serbian Molecular Biologist and activist for her contributions.