In a report published today after a visit to Serbia, Michael O’Flaherty expressed concern over the violent response of the authorities to protests that swept the country after the collapse of the overhanging scaffolding at the railway station in Novi Sad in November 2024, in which 16 people died. “There are numerous reports of excessive use of force by the police, arrests of peaceful protesters and humiliating treatment in detention,” O’Flaherty said. The report also warns of threats to media freedom and violence against journalists.
“The commission is concerned about physical attacks on journalists and their families, as well as threats to their safety, and the police’s lack of response,” it says. It also notes that pro-government media and some high-ranking state officials regularly portray civil society organizations as traitors or foreign agents, such hostile rhetoric.
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