Members of several media associations gathered in front of the Presidency of Serbia building in Belgrade to express solidarity with journalists who were assaulted while covering Sunday’s local elections.
The protest, titled “Solidarity Today, Survival Tomorrow,” was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., marking the time when organizers say the first attack on journalists occurred on election day.
Veran Matić, President of the Managing Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media, stated that the gathering was also aimed at highlighting what he described as increasing repression against journalists.
“We are gathering here because Aleksandar Vučić is a symbol of repression toward journalists and of the violence that is intensifying every day,” Matić said.
According to him, such violence originates “from the top levels of government,” adding that it would not occur without either direct approval or the influence of messages coming from political leaders, including Ana Brnabić.
Organizers emphasized that the rally aims to draw attention to what they described as the increasingly difficult and dangerous conditions faced by journalists in the field.
The protest was organized by multiple media and professional organizations, including the Association of Media, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), the Association of Online Media, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, the “Nezavisnost” branch union for culture, arts and media, the Local Press Association, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, and the Journalists’ Association of Serbia.
