{
  "id": 118,
  "slug": "2025-serbia-police-target-journalists-protests",
  "title": "Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests",
  "occurred_on": "2025-09-05",
  "occurred_on_precision": "day",
  "ended_on": null,
  "jurisdiction": "RS",
  "country": "RS",
  "continent": "europe",
  "level": "national",
  "type": null,
  "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence",
  "leader_slug": "aleksandar-vucic",
  "issue_of_the_day": "The protests, which grew through the summer of 2025, followed months of demonstrations against President Aleksandar Vucic's government that began after a deadly railway-station canopy collapse in Novi Sad in late 2024.",
  "outcome": "ongoing",
  "outcome_on": null,
  "outcome_note": "The interior ministry did not respond to CPJ's request for comment, and no officer was reported disciplined for the incidents documented.",
  "granularity": "granular",
  "era": "2020s",
  "summary": "The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 28 Serbian journalists reporting being struck, detained, sprayed with chemical irritants or having their equipment destroyed by police between June and September 2025 while covering nationwide anti-government protests; the interior ministry did not respond to CPJ's request for comment.{c:445}",
  "what_happened": "Between June and September 2025, Serbian police repeatedly used force against journalists covering nationwide anti-government protests, according to a Committee to Protect Journalists report published September 25, 2025 documenting at least 28 affected journalists. On September 5 in Novi Sad, police kicked reporter Emir Kahrimanovic despite his visible press vest, forced Vreme reporter Katarina Stevanovic to lie on the ground for about fifteen minutes, and grabbed and smashed KTV reporter Nemanja Sarovic's microphone while he was reporting live. On September 1, an officer seized Beta news agency reporter Bozidar Milovac's phone and forced him to delete footage despite his identifying himself as a journalist. In earlier incidents in Belgrade and other cities in July and August, reporters described being struck with batons and shields, sprayed with an unknown chemical substance, and having memory cards destroyed. CPJ's Europe representative called for swift, transparent investigations and accountability for the officers involved; the interior ministry did not respond to CPJ's request for comment.{c:445}{c:446}{c:447}",
  "stated_justification": "No Serbian official offered a public justification for the specific incidents documented; the interior ministry did not respond to CPJ's request for comment.{c:445}{c:446}{c:447}",
  "effect_on_reporting": "Journalists covering the protests described routinely facing physical force, confiscation or destruction of equipment, and orders to stop filming, even when visibly identified as press, narrowing on-the-ground coverage of the demonstrations.{c:447}",
  "unknowns": "Whether any internal investigation into individual officers' conduct was opened was not established in the source reviewed.",
  "status": "in_effect",
  "status_updated_on": "2026-09-22",
  "external_ids": {},
  "illustration_key": null,
  "pub_state": "published",
  "published_at": "2026-09-22T23:17:06Z",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-09-22",
  "next_review_on": "2026-12-22",
  "revision": 5,
  "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:17:01Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-23T00:08:38Z",
  "stage": "punish",
  "ladder_note": null,
  "country_name": "Serbia",
  "tactics": [
    "detention_and_violence"
  ],
  "leader": {
    "slug": "aleksandar-vucic",
    "name": "Aleksandar Vucic",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/aleksandar-vucic"
  },
  "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-serbia-police-target-journalists-protests",
  "page_meta": {
    "published": "2026-09-22T23:17:06Z",
    "reviewed": "2026-09-22",
    "sources": 1,
    "status": "in_effect",
    "statusAsOf": "2026-09-22",
    "unknowns": "Whether any internal investigation into individual officers' conduct was opened was not established in the source reviewed."
  },
  "actors": [
    {
      "slug": "aleksandar-vucic",
      "name": "Aleksandar Vucic",
      "kind": "person",
      "role": "other",
      "role_at_time": null,
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/actors/aleksandar-vucic"
    },
    {
      "slug": "serbian-ministry-of-interior",
      "name": "Serbian Ministry of the Interior",
      "kind": "body",
      "role": "enforced",
      "role_at_time": null,
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/actors/serbian-ministry-of-interior"
    }
  ],
  "outlets": [
    {
      "slug": "n1-tv",
      "name": "N1",
      "relation": "affected",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/outlets/n1-tv"
    }
  ],
  "journalists": [],
  "cases": [],
  "related": [],
  "events": [],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": 445,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 118,
      "field": "occurred_on",
      "value": "2025-09-05",
      "statement": "CPJ called for swift, transparent investigations into dozens of claims of police force against journalists and for accountability for those responsible.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 308,
      "evidence_quote": "CPJ urges Serbia to conduct swift and transparent investigations into dozens of claims of police violence against journalists, and hold the perpetrators to account,",
      "evidence_date": "2025-09-25",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:17:02Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 308,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "title": "Serbia police target journalists as anti-government protests escalate",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2025-09-25",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/445"
    },
    {
      "id": 446,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 118,
      "field": "status",
      "value": "Ministry does not respond",
      "statement": "CPJ said the interior ministry, which oversees police, did not reply to its request for comment.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 308,
      "evidence_quote": "CPJ's emailed request for comment to the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the police, did not receive a reply.",
      "evidence_date": "2025-09-25",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:17:03Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 308,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "title": "Serbia police target journalists as anti-government protests escalate",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2025-09-25",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/446"
    },
    {
      "id": 447,
      "subject_type": "incident",
      "subject_id": 118,
      "field": "effect_on_reporting",
      "value": "At least 28 journalists affected since June 2025",
      "statement": "CPJ documented at least 28 journalists reporting force used against them by police since June 1, 2025.",
      "attribution": null,
      "source_id": 308,
      "evidence_quote": "CPJ urges Serbia to conduct swift and transparent investigations into dozens of claims of police violence against journalists, and hold the perpetrators to account,",
      "evidence_date": "2025-09-25",
      "method": "outlet_report",
      "verified_at": "2026-09-22",
      "confidence": "medium",
      "status": "current",
      "supersedes_id": null,
      "superseded_by": null,
      "supersede_reason": null,
      "batch_label": "v2-research-2026-09-22",
      "created_at": "2026-09-22T23:17:03Z",
      "source": {
        "id": 308,
        "url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
        "title": "Serbia police target journalists as anti-government protests escalate",
        "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
        "published_on": "2025-09-25",
        "link_state": "live",
        "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
        "wayback_url": null,
        "wayback_saved_at": null
      },
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/claims/447"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": 308,
      "url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
      "final_url": "https://cpj.org/2025/09/serbia-police-target-journalists-as-anti-government-protests-escalate/",
      "title": "Serbia police target journalists as anti-government protests escalate",
      "publisher": "Committee to Protect Journalists",
      "published_on": "2025-09-25",
      "link_state": "live",
      "link_state_since": "2026-09-22T23:23:23Z",
      "wayback_url": null,
      "wayback_saved_at": null
    }
  ],
  "revisions_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-serbia-police-target-journalists-protests/revisions",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  },
  "cite_as": "Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests. The War On News, thewaronnews.com. https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-serbia-police-target-journalists-protests. Retrieved 2026-09-23."
}