# Police storm the Rectorate in Novi Sad

Category: Violence against citizens  
Period: from 5 Sep 2025  
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 28 Oct 2026)  

On the night of 5 to 6 September 2025, after police broke up a protest, rector Dejan Madić entered the Rectorate of the University of Novi Sad together with the police. According to minister Ivica Dačić, the police went in at the rector's invitation and checked the IDs of 142 people who had taken shelter inside; they were held in the amphitheatre for hours, and the police stayed in the building until 1 October. Free University is demanding the rector's resignation and a prosecutor's investigation, and people who were in the Rectorate have reportedly received misdemeanour summonses. Madić has not resigned.

## Police enter the Rectorate

After the police operation outside the Faculty of Philosophy, covered in a separate case, police surrounded the Rectorate building on the night of 5 to 6 September 2025, where students, citizens and medical workers had taken shelter. Police entered the building together with Rector Dejan Madić; around fifty members of the Gendarmerie went in.

Minister Ivica Dačić said the rector had called the police at around half past midnight, and that the police entered the building after consulting the prosecutor's office.

## Hours in the amphitheatre

The people inside the building were taken to a lecture hall, where police checked their IDs; Dačić said 142 people had been found there. They were released in groups after 2.30 am, and several students, among them members of the Blokada.info editorial team, were detained. Dačić said eight people were detained because, as he put it, tear gas, body armour and a radio set were found on them.

Footage published by students shows a masked police officer snatching a phone from a young person. Professor Vladan Joler, who was inside, says they were surrounded by armed men and that female students were crying.

## The rector's response

Rector Madić told 021.rs that there was no violence in the Rectorate, that nobody laid a finger on anyone and that he stayed in the building all night. He explained the entry by pointing to the great damage the university was suffering because the Rectorate had been under blockade since December.

Dačić said the police respond when called by the competent authority and that how the university will function is not a matter for the police.

## Police stay until 1 October

The police remained in the Rectorate over the following weeks. Staff were let into the rector's meeting on 8 September from a list held by the police, while students were not allowed in. Students' personal belongings and the Blokada.info editorial team's equipment also remained in the building; the rector did not answer N1's question about why the police were still there.

The University of Novi Sad announced on 3 October that the police had left the building on 1 October.

## Misdemeanour summonses for those who sheltered

Free University announced in March 2026 that several dozen citizens, students and staff had received summonses to the Misdemeanour Court over the events of 5 September. They are allegedly charged with disturbing public order and endangering property, and the network calls this an attempt at collective intimidation. A rally in support was scheduled outside the Misdemeanour Court for 7 April.

## Calls for resignation and an investigation

On 26 October 2026, the Free University gave Rector Madić 72 hours to resign, citing among other things his decision to let the police into the Rectorate. Two days later it demanded that responsibility be established urgently and that the prosecutor's office examine whether criminal offences had been committed. On 29 October, when the deadline expired, it announced legal action and called on the deans to convene a session on his dismissal. Madić did not resign and did not respond to questions from N1.

## Participants

- [Dejan Madić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/dejan-madic): He called the police into the Rectorate, where students, citizens and medical workers had taken shelter, and entered the building with them (responsible)
- [Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/mup-srbije): The police entered the Rectorate, checked the IDs of 142 people who had taken shelter inside and stayed in the building until 1 October (responsible)
- [Ivica Dačić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/ivica-dacic): He said the police entered the Rectorate at the rector's request, in consultation with the prosecution, and checked the IDs of 142 people (commented on the case)
- [University of Novi Sad](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/univerzitet-u-novom-sadu): It announced that the police left the Rectorate on 1 October 2025 and were no longer in the building (commented on the case)
- [Free University Academic Network](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/slobodan-univerzitet): It is demanding the rector's resignation and an investigation into the police entry into the Rectorate, and warns of misdemeanour summonses sent to people who took shelter there (oversight and the public)

## Sources

- [Danas: Police storm the Rectorate in Novi Sad, with Rector Madić among them: police brutality, tear gas, stun grenades and batons on the streets, with journalists among the injured (VIDEO, PHOTO)](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/protest-srbijo-da-li-se-cujemo-5-septembar/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [Danas: What is the situation in Novi Sad since this morning? (PHOTO/VIDEO)](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/novi-sad-rektorat-studenti-policija-6-septembar/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [Mašina: Unprecedented police intervention in Novi Sad: tear gas, arrests, entry into the Rectorate](<https://www.masina.rs/nezapamcena-intervencija-policije-u-novom-sadu-suzavac-hapsenja-ulazak-u-rektorat/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [N1: Police storm the Rectorate in Novi Sad: students, citizens and medical workers inside](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/policija-opkolila-rektorat-u-novom-sadu-unutra-studenti-gradjani-i-medicinski-radnici/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [RTS: Dačić: Mass attack on police in Novi Sad, violence planned to raise tensions](<https://www.rts.rs/lat/vesti/politika/5783573/ivica-dacic-ministar-policija-mup-neredi-incidenti-demonstransti-sukobi-novi-sad.html>): 6 Sep 2025
- [Danas: Dačić: We assisted the rector's entry, carried out a search on the prosecutor's orders, and are now outside](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/dacic-asistirali-smo-ulasku-rektora-po-nalogu-tuzioca-izvrsili-smo-pretres-sad-smo-ispred/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [N1: Rector of the University of Novi Sad: There was no repression in the Rectorate, nobody laid a finger on anyone](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/rektor-uiverziteta-u-novom-sadu-u-rektoratu-nije-bilo-represije-niko-nikoga-nije-pipnuo/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [Vreme: State terror in Novi Sad](<https://vreme.com/drustvo/srbijo-da-li-se-cujemo-veceras-protest-u-novom-sadu/>): 6 Sep 2025
- [021.rs: Dejan Madić on the events at the Rectorate: I did not see a single bad thing here](<https://www.021.rs/novi-sad/vesti/420127/dejan-madic-o-desavanjima-u-rektoratu-ovde-nisam-video-nijednu-losu-stvar>): 6 Sep 2025
- [Danas: Police enter the Rectorate building in Novi Sad: staff meeting with the rector ends, police remove students' personal belongings](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/policija-usla-u-zgradu-rektorata-u-novom-sadu-deo-zaposneli-ostali-napolju-rektor-dejan-madic/>): 8 Sep 2025
- [021.rs: VIDEO: Police move from the Faculty of Philosophy to the Rectorate, some staff refuse to enter](<https://www.021.rs/novi-sad/vesti/420322/video-policija-presla-iz-filozofskog-u-rektorat-pojedini-zaposleni-odbijaju-da-udju>): 8 Sep 2025
- [N1: Police still in the Novi Sad Rectorate building: students' belongings also "trapped", students announce lawsuit against Madić](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/policija-i-dalje-u-zgradi-novosadskog-rektorata-zarobljene-i-stvari-studenata-najavljuju-tuzbu-protiv-madica/>): 11 Sep 2025
- [Insajder: University of Novi Sad: Police have left the Rectorate](<https://insajder.net/vesti/univerzitet-u-novom-sadu-policija-napustila-rektorat>): 3 Oct 2025
- [IN Medija: Slobodan univerzitet: Misdemeanour charges over the Rectorate events are an attempt at collective intimidation](<https://inmedija.rs/slobodan-univerzitet-prekrsajne-prijave-zbog-dogadjaja-u-rektoratu-pokusaj-kolektivnog-zastrasivanja/>): 16 Mar 2026
- [Nova.rs: Rally in support of students and professors charged with misdemeanours over their presence in the Novi Sad Rectorate: Everyone to the Misdemeanour Court](<https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/skup-podrske-studentima-i-profesorima-koji-su-dobili-prekrsajne-prijave-zbog-boravka-u-novosadskom-rektoratu-svi-ispred-prekrsajnog-suda>): 7 Apr 2026
- [Radio Slobodna Evropa: After the change of government in Serbia, Novi Sad university professors demand the rector's resignation](<https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/ostavka-rektor-univerzitet-novi-sad-profesori/33884506.html>): 26 Oct 2026
- [Danas: Free University enters the Rectorate in Novi Sad: Rector Dejan Madić has three days to resign](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/slobodan-univerzitet-usao-u-rektorat-u-novom-sadu-rektor-dejan-madic-ima-tri-dana-da-podnese-ostavku/>): 26 Oct 2026
- [Danas: Slobodan univerzitet: "Urgent investigation into the police entry into the Rectorate and their presence at the Faculty of Philosophy"](<https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/slobodan-univerzitet-hitna-istraga-o-ulasku-policije-u-rektorat-i-boravku-na-filozofskom-fakultetu/>): 28 Oct 2026
- [N1: Deadline for Rector Madić's resignation expires: Slobodan univerzitet announces legal action and calls on deans to convene a session](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/istekao-rok-za-ostavku-rektora-madica-slobodan-univerzitet-najavljuje-pravne-korake-i-poziva-dekane-na-sazivanje-sednice>): 29 Oct 2026

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Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/policija-u-rektoratu-novi-sad-2025  
As of: 6 Nov 2026  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)