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Attacks on protesters

Participants in Serbia's protest movement have faced violence from multiple directions - police force deployed against crowds, and organized attacks by ruling party-linked individuals targeting protesters, journalists, and activists. Both forms of violence have been documented, and in both cases accountability has been largely absent. This section records what happened, who was responsible, and what followed.
May

On 14 May, a man drove his car into a 90-year-old man participating in the daily 16-minute silence at the intersection outside the Faculty of Law in Belgrade, leaving the victim seriously injured. Citizens prevented the attacker from fleeing and held him until police arrived. The prosecution subsequently announced it would pursue charges of attempted murder.
April

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a statement expressing serious concern over the erosion of civic space in Serbia. He cited reports of voter intimidation, police raids on opposition premises during recent local elections, and growing pressure on independent journalists and media outlets. Türk called on Serbian authorities to guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and to conduct transparent, impartial investigations into human rights violations. The statement adds to a growing body of international scrutiny directed at democratic conditions in Serbia.
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"However, at the moment when young people begin to understand something in a completely serious way, when someone is able to sell them an anarchist ideology - you know, they are not aware that there, the police have the right to beat them and even kill them." Minister of Information and Telecommunication Boris Bratina made this statement on Tanjug TV on April 4th, which is celebrated in Serbia as Student's Day, honoring Željko Marinović, a student who was killed in the student protests in 1936.
Update
UN Human Rights Chief Warns of Serious Civic Space Erosion in Serbia
UN High Commissioner Volker Türk has raised alarm over accelerating restrictions on civic freedoms in Serbia, citing electoral irregularities, pressure on independent media, and ongoing threats against critical voices as signs of a deepening democratic crisis.
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Update
CRTA on election day: Violence overshadowed all other problems
Violence marked election day in several municipalities, overshadowing widespread irregularities and raising serious concerns about the role of institutions in protecting voters.
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Update
One Year After the Sound Cannon: No Accountability, No Justice
Statement by A11, FemPlatz, BCHR, YUCOM, Civic Initiatives and CRTA
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Brief
Escalation of repression and treatment of detainees during August protests
From a warning shot fired by an army officer to reports of abusive treatment of detained protesters,...
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Update
Criminal Complaints Filed Regarding Events at Protests over Summer
CRTA has filed three criminal complaints related to incidents that occurred during protests in Novi Sad, Belgrade, and Vrbas.
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Update
Vučić pardons SNS activists who broke a jaw of a female student in Novi Sad
Four activists from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) will no longer face trial for the violent assault of students in Novi Sad, after President Aleksandar Vučić granted them a pardon, effectively terminating the criminal proceedings against them.
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Update
Earshot report on the events of March 15: Sonic Attack on a Silent Vigil
“And then from that complete silence, I heard this sound.” (Witness 05)
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Update
Vučić: “Freedom for the heroes, prison for blockader terrorists”
Senior officials are portraying ruling party activists accused of beating students as “heroes,” while framing protest movements and their supporters as terrorists.
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Update
European Court of Human Rights Orders Serbia to Refrain from Using Sonic Devices for Crowd Control
"The measure serves as an important warning to the Serbian state and as further evidence countering the government’s claim that “nothing significant happened” on March 15."
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Key Issues
Slučajevi Elections & Voting Integrity Civil Society Resilience Protests in Serbia Institutions & Oversight Media & Information Space
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Slučajevi Public Sentiment Serbia in Reports Reform Agenda Updates