Category: Violence against citizens
Period: 28 Jun 2025 – 30 Sep 2025
Outcome: Under investigation (as of 12 Jul 2025)
After the Vidovdan protest and the blockades of intersections, police in Belgrade beat students and other citizens, according to witness accounts. Student Luka M. suffered fractured facial bones at the hands of a gendarme, and Aleksa Stanković says he was beaten for ten minutes in a police van. The Ombudsman said that four of the 13 people arrested had complained of violence, while the Interior Ministry and the prosecution maintain that no excessive force was used. No one has been charged; the complaints are under examination.
On 28 June 2025, after the Vidovdan protest, a student at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Zrenjanin was punched in the face by a member of the Gendarmerie; according to his lawyer, three bones in his skull were fractured. He was taken to the police station in Zemun, where he was accused of violent conduct, and according to his father, medical help arrived only after six or seven hours.
After surgery at the Zemun Clinical Hospital Centre, he was handcuffed to the bed by his leg. The Interior Ministry denied this, but the Administration for the Enforcement of Penal Sanctions confirmed it. He was placed under house arrest, and the complaint against him was dismissed by the end of September.
On the night of 2 to 3 July 2025, police broke up the blockade at the Faculty of Law. According to students and journalist Vuk Cvijić, students and citizens were beaten, while the Interior Ministry says police did not enter the building. On 15 July, more than 40 professors filed a complaint against gendarmes over attacks on at least 85 people. The case of one female student is handled separately (Tanja Drobnjak and the student outside the Faculty of Law).
Student and photographer Aleksa Stanković says that on 1 July, after the blockade at the Vuk monument was broken up, police officers beat him for ten minutes in a police vehicle over a video showing officers insulting young women. The next day, students held a protest in front of the Faculty of Philosophy.
On the night of 2 to 3 July, almost 80 students and protesters were arrested in several cities. Arrests were also recorded on 4 July in Zemun and in New Belgrade near the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, where students were among those detained. Claims that police entered the courtyard of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering have not been confirmed.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office said on 2 July that the police had not exceeded their powers, and Minister Ivica Dačić said the police react only when someone attacks them. Aleksandar Vučić called the force used "minimal". On 3 July, Ombudsman Zoran Pašalić spoke with 13 of those arrested, four of whom complained of physical violence.
On 30 June, the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights filed criminal complaints against unidentified police officers. The First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office said on 12 July that the case concerning the brutality outside the Faculty of Law was at the preliminary investigation stage, and the Interior Ministry did not answer N1's question on whether it had taken any action. No police officer has been charged.