An N1 crew was ordered out of the building housing the country’s central election commission on Wednesday.
The crew were told that security procedures had been changed in the few minutes that the crew was allowed into the building to interview an official of the Serbia Against Violence (SPN) opposition coalition. The Republic Election Commission (RIK) is housed in the so-called Little Assembly, the building that was once the parliament of Serbia in the former Yugoslavia. Security at the building is provided by the police both in plainclothes and uniform.
N1 reporter Petar Gajic crew said that they had been allowed into the building following a check of their credentials. The crew were allowed into the lobby where they met with Srdjan Milivojevic MP and were then allowed to go to the 3rd floor to interview SPN’s Marinika Tepic who is on hunger strike protesting election fraud at Sunday’s elections in Belgrade.
The crew were later allowed back into the building to the offices of SPN MPs with N1’s reporter Gajic saying that the police security detail seemed uneasy about the new orders.
The crew was told by security personnel to return to the entrance lobby minutes before they were scheduled to go live with Tepic. They obeyed the order and were then ordered out of the building. Security personnel told them that security procedures had been altered after they entered the building.
Gajic refused to leave the building and reported live from the entrance.
Milivojevic said that the security procedures were changed in expectation of today’s RIK meeting and the looming deadline to hand in objections to the vote, adding that the police were just following orders.
Source: N1
