# Police beat students outside the Faculty of Sport (DIF) in Novi Sad Category: Violence against citizens Period: from 28 Apr 2025 Outcome: Complaint dismissed or proceedings halted (as of 19 Nov 2025) On 28 April 2025, Patrik Drid, dean of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Novi Sad, called the police to break up a student blockade. Police, a riot unit and the gendarmerie then hit the crowd with shields and batons and sprayed them with tear gas, Beta and Nova report. A female student whom a police officer struck on the head with a shield was diagnosed with a concussion, the 021 portal reported. An activist filed a complaint against Gendarmerie officer Dejan Obrenović, who, according to the daily Danas, pulled him by the hair. Prosecutors dismissed the complaint, and Obrenović later became commander of the unit. ## Dean called the police On 28 April 2025, dean Drid tried to enter the building and break up the student blockade, and he admitted to N1 that he had called the police. According to the 021 portal, he returned accompanied by plainclothes police officers, among them the deputy chief of the Novi Sad Police Department. Police, a riot unit and the gendarmerie hit the crowd with shields and batons and sprayed them with tear gas, Beta and Nova report. A student from the Faculty of Agriculture lost consciousness after a police officer struck her on the head with a shield, and she was diagnosed with a concussion, the 021 portal reported. A police officer threw Smiljana Milinkov, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, to the ground. ## Complaint against a Gendarmerie officer According to the daily Danas, Obrenović, then head of the Security and Legality Section of the Gendarmerie's Novi Sad unit and one of the commanders of the operation, dragged an activist by the hair outside DIF as the activist was moving away and offering no resistance, which can be seen on video. The activist filed a complaint against him for ill-treatment and torture. Prosecutors dismissed the complaint, and in November 2025 Obrenović became commander of the Gendarmerie's Novi Sad unit. ## Student charged with attacking the dean That same evening, Veljko Petrović, a student at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, was arrested, accused of striking the dean on the arm with his hand; his lawyer says there was no physical contact, as the footage shows. The next day the court released him to await trial at liberty, with a ban on approaching Drid. According to Nedeljnik, President Aleksandar Vučić then apologised to the dean and criticised the prosecution and the court. In July 2026, the Higher Court in Novi Sad acquitted Petrović at first instance; the prosecutor had sought 12 months of house arrest and 100,000 dinars in damages for Drid. ## Call for a confidence vote in the dean In 2026, the election council of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (DIF), chaired by Drid, did not re-elect assistant professors Mladen Mikić and Jovan Vuković, even though the review committees had recommended their appointment. According to colleagues, they lost their jobs on 5 October. Drid says the council took the decision by a two-thirds majority and that the two had not produced results. In October, the faculty council elected him to another term. On 28 October 2026, seven DIF professors called for the Teaching and Academic Council to hold a vote of confidence in Drid, saying that the blockade had been followed by a systematic settling of scores with teachers who had backed the students. The session set for 29 October was postponed because council members, according to an email from the dean's office, do not feel safe. Drid told RTV he will not resign. ## Participants - [Patrik Drid](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/patrik-drid): He admitted calling the police to intervene at the blockade outside DIF, where police then beat the people gathered there (responsible) - [Novi Sad Police Department](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/pu-novi-sad): Outside DIF, police and the gendarmerie beat the people gathered there with batons and shields and sprayed them with tear gas; a female student suffered a concussion (responsible) - [Dejan Obrenović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/dejan-obrenovic): Allegedly dragged an activist by the hair outside the DIF faculty as the activist tried to get out of the way; prosecutors dismissed the complaint against him (responsible) - [Aleksandar Vučić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/aleksandar-vucic): After the student charged with attacking the dean was released, he apologised to Drid and publicly criticised the work of the prosecutors and the court (commented on the case) - [Momčilo Sovilj](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/momcilo-sovilj): According to the Law Faculty students in blockade and protesters, he ordered the police to use force and beat the people gathered outside the DIF faculty (responsible) - [Goran Radonjić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/goran-radonjic): According to the students of the Faculty of Law who are in blockade, as chief he authorised the gendarmerie to beat students and citizens outside the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (DIF) (responsible) ## Victims and others harmed - [Veljko Petrović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/veljko-petrovic) - [Smiljana Milinkov](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/smiljana-milinkov) ## Sources - [Beta: Novi Sad: Students drive out DIF dean, police also withdraw](): 28 Apr 2025 - [Nova.rs: VIDEO "They don't pick and choose, they hit everyone": Watch police beat students and citizens with batons and pepper-spray them outside the DIF faculty in Novi Sad](): 28 Apr 2025 - [021.rs: Student hit in the head with a police shield outside DIF faculty has concussion](): 28 Apr 2025 - [Nova.rs: Novi Sad Law Faculty students publish names of Interior Ministry chiefs they hold responsible for beating of students](): 30 Apr 2025 - [Nova.rs: He led the intervention outside the DIF faculty when police beat citizens at Dean Drid's call: Who is Momčilo Sovilj, who calls students "Ustashas"](): 23 Jan 2026 - [Danas: Senior Gendarmerie officer pulled activist's hair: Criminal complaint filed (VIDEO)](): 11 May 2025 - [Danas: Pulled activists' hair, snatched students' phones: Who is Dejan Obrenović, the new commander of the Novi Sad Gendarmerie?](): 19 Nov 2025 - [Danas: No one disciplined over police brutality at protests: Promotions instead of punishment](): 14 Aug 2026 - [021.rs: Student acquitted at first instance of attacking Patrik Drid](): 8 Jul 2026 - [021.rs: Who is Patrik Drid: The dean who called the police](): 28 Apr 2025 - [021.rs: Professor Milinkov on police conduct outside the DIF faculty: Degrading to us as human beings](): 1 May 2025 - [021.rs: PHOTO, VIDEO: Arrested FTN student released from custody, barred from approaching DIF dean](): 29 Apr 2025 - [Nedeljnik: Student's lawyer: Veljko Petrović stays free as prosecutors' request for detention is rejected](): 12 May 2025 - [Danas: Student at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad: I have been acquitted at first instance in the case of the physical attack on Patrik Drid](): 8 Jul 2026 - [021.rs: Two DIF lecturers lose their jobs despite meeting every requirement; Drid says they lack results](): 16 Sep 2026 - [021.rs: Patrik Drid gets another term as head of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education](): 15 Oct 2026 - [Danas: Group of professors at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Novi Sad calls for a confidence vote on dean Patrik Drid](): 28 Oct 2026 - [N1: Group of professors at Novi Sad's DIF calls for a confidence vote on dean Patrik Drid](): 28 Oct 2026 - [RTV (Radio-televizija Vojvodine): Confidence vote on Novi Sad DIF dean Patrik Drid postponed; he says he will not resign](): 29 Oct 2026 - [021.rs: PHOTOS Session on no-confidence in Patrik Drid postponed; Teaching and Research Council members “do not feel safe”](): 29 Oct 2026 - [Moj Novi Sad: Protest outside DIF, no debate: session on removing dean Patrik Drid postponed](): 29 Oct 2026 --- Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/dif-novi-sad-2025 As of: 9 Nov 2026 Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)