The journalist team of the Nova.rs portal was attacked again while reporting from the field. The case was reported to the police and the attacker was taken into custody.
The attack took place in Pozeska Street on Banovo brdo, while the team of the Nova.rs portal reported on the fire that broke out in a fast food restaurant.
The person who introduced himself as the security of the building that caught fire in the mentioned street in the morning, did not allow the journalists to do their job and physically pushed the Nova.rs reporter.
“You will be responsible for everything, delete photos. Come on, you better not get beaten up, so we don’t break you like a c**t, did you hear me, moldy? Come on, go, so that I don’t f**k you, mother, go”, are some of the insults and threats uttered by an unknown man.
“Our reporters demanded that the whole problem to be solved in the presence of the police, but the bully did not allow our team to move or approach the police,” they stated on the Nova.rs website.
In the meantime, as it was confirmed to this portal in the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, the attacker was arrested and detained.
This is a new attack on journalists while reporting from the field. Situations in which journalists are directly exposed to potential physical attacks are becoming more frequent. We are afraid that some next meeting with the thugs will end in a physical confrontation.
The whole situation is a consequence of the creation of an atmosphere of lynching and intolerance towards critically oriented media and journalists by the ruling elite, who in their public appearances, despite numerous warnings, continue to label and insult journalists.
We welcome the quick reaction of the police who arrested the attacker and call on the prosecution to show its efficiency in this case so that the competent court can impose an adequate sentence, and thus discourage future potential attacks on journalists.
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS)
28 May 2022