In yet another show of authoritarian reflexes, Serbian police detained three citizens two of them students during a peaceful protest in front of the unregistered pro-government outlet “Niš TV” on the evening of November 12. The irony? Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković, the supposed reason for the protest, wasn’t even there.
The students’ only “crime” was demanding accountability, truth, and respect for university autonomy principles the Serbian regime treats as a threat.
According to the informal student group from Niš, Nađa and Aleksandar, along with citizen Dušan, were taken to the Median Police Station and released only after giving statements a process that once again proved the detentions had no legal basis.
“We will not be swayed by intimidation,” the group declared. “We will continue to fight for truth, justice, and the principle that the law must apply equally to everyone.”
An Illegal TV and a Manufactured Show of Power
The protest took place in front of Niš TV, a propaganda outlet that is not registered with Serbia’s Agency for Economic Registers (APR) nor licensed by the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM). Yet it continues to broadcast pro-government content without consequence — a privilege apparently reserved for regime-friendly voices.
Students gathered believing that Minister Stanković would appear live for a discussion. Instead, they discovered that his “appearance” had been pre-recorded, turning the entire event into a staged illusion — symbolic of the government’s ongoing manipulation of public discourse.
Students Targeted, Media Shielded
As demonstrators chanted “Dejane, leave!”, “Resignation, then prison!”, and “Your hands are bloody!”, police swarmed the scene. More than ten patrol cars arrived after the crowd dispersed — a display of force vastly disproportionate to a handful of peaceful students armed with signs, chants, and, at most, a few eggs.
This is the face of Vučić’s Serbia: a country where young people demanding accountability are treated as criminals, while illegal media outlets spreading regime propaganda operate freely.
Defending the University from Political Capture
The protest was sparked by the government’s unilateral creation of a “Faculty of Serbian Studies” in Niš — a decision made without the consent of the Faculty of Philosophy, whose departments were carved out by decree. The move is widely viewed as an attempt to politicize higher education, undermine academic independence, and reward nationalist loyalists under the guise of “cultural heritage.”
Minister Stanković dismissed the outrage as “academic, not political,” but his words ring hollow. Faculty councils, unions, and students from Niš, Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Kragujevac have condemned the decision as unconstitutional and illegal, while a petition demanding its reversal has already gathered over 6,000 signatures.
A Regime Afraid of Knowledge
The government’s reaction — detaining students and intimidating protestors — exposes its deep fear of educated dissent. Instead of addressing legitimate academic concerns, the regime uses police pressure, smear campaigns, and propaganda networks to silence critics.
Meanwhile, the same Minister of Education who claims to value dialogue was nowhere to be found — busy giving interviews to an illegal television station, safely insulated from the people whose voices he refuses to hear.
This is not education policy. It’s state control of thought — a continuation of the regime’s strategy to suppress every independent institution that dares to challenge its authority.
