Election day in Serbia was marked by physical attacks on journalists, restrictions on reporting from polling stations, website outages and the denial of entry to foreign journalists, the Serbian Journalists' Association (UNS) said on Monday.
Oglas
Journalists Mihajlo Stojkovic of the InfoVranjske portal and Jelena Stojkovic of Vecernje Novosti daily were injured in an attack in the village of Pavlovac near Vranje while reporting on alleged voting irregularities. Two men were arrested in connection with the incident. Three journalists from the Blokada Info outlet were also reportedly attacked in Belgrade, while podcast author Galeb Nikacevic was struck by a man outside the Caciland park outside the presidency building.
Several news crews were prevented from reporting at polling stations, including in Cacak, Pancevo, Belgrade and Ruma. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) also denied accreditation to journalists from N1, Nova, Danas and Radar for its election-night headquarters.
Two journalists from Croatia's Telegram portal and a three-member team from North Macedonia's ALSAT TV were denied entry to Serbia. The Danas news website was unavailable for more than 30 minutes, and the UNS website could not be accessed for about six hours.
Journalists' and media associations called the authorities to investigate attacks and obstruction of reporting.
Teme