Berlin, November 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Serbian authorities to urgently investigate three incidents in which journalists were attacked or intimidated by what appeared to be pro-government supporters near the National Assembly in Belgrade.
On November 3, four men, three of them masked, assaulted private news agency FoNet reporter Marko Čonjagić around 11 p.m. as he covered a rally linked to the deadly 2024 Novi Sad railway station collapse, which sparked nationwide protests that have since grown into a broader movement against corruption and President Aleksandar Vučić’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The attackers, who emerged from a nearby camp of government supporters, tried to drag Čonjagić into a fenced area, then pushed him to the ground and beat him. Police officers who witnessed the attack did not intervene and later directed him to file a report. He sustained no injuries.
A day earlier, on November 2, journalist Nataša Mijušković, with online newspaper Insajder, was surrounded and threatened by a group of men from the same camp after photographing the site. The attackers grabbed her, forced her to delete photos, and followed her to a police cordon, where officers told her not to re-enter the area. That evening, unidentified individuals attacked several Radio DIR photojournalists, whose names were not disclosed, demanding they delete footage and seizing equipment. One journalist sought medical treatment. During the incident, a female photojournalist with Radio DIR, whose name was also not disclosed, had her camera lens snatched, and her colleague had his press ID ripped off from the lanyard around his neck.
“Authorities must protect journalists rather than stand by as they face violence,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Serbian authorities must end impunity for such attacks on journalists, take urgent steps to guarantee the safety of reporters, and curb the hostile rhetoric and atmosphere that embolden those who seek to silence the press.”
Earlier this year, CPJ reported a rise in attacks and threats against journalists, who said that instead of protecting them during demonstrations, police are increasingly and deliberately targeting them — particularly those covering police violence.
CPJ emailed the Serbian Interior Ministry for comment on the investigation but received no response.