Category: Violence against citizens
Period: from 18 Oct 2022
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 4 Nov 2022)
On 18 October 2022 police formed a cordon to guard workers fencing off Šodroš in Novi Sad for a bridge over the Danube, and allegedly beat and detained residents who tried to stop them. The clashes were repeated on 23 October and on 24 March 2023. Misdemeanour and criminal complaints were filed against the detained activists, and Isidora Čeleketić was convicted of insulting an official. The activists reported the police to the Interior Ministry's internal affairs unit. Activist Miloš Rakić was still on trial in 2026, and a UN rapporteur asked the court to dismiss the charge.
On 18 October 2022, workers from the Chinese company CRBC began putting up a fence for preparatory works on the fourth bridge over the Danube, guarded by a police intervention unit. Activists from the “Šodroš Survivor” camp tried to stop them.
The cordon used physical force and began detaining people, among them older people and women. Magdalena Rašković says officers kicked her and did not tell her who they were, as they were not wearing insignia that day. Ten activists were detained, and 11 misdemeanour complaints and two criminal complaints were filed against them.
At the protest on 23 October, members of the Gendarmerie tried to push some of the people towards the forest. Two to three people were injured in the pushing and shoving; one of them said they had suffered head injuries from a shield they were struck with. Three people were detained.
On 4 November, activists filed a complaint with the Interior Ministry's internal affairs unit over police conduct: excessive force, and officers without identification, most of them masked. They submitted the complaint to the Novi Sad Police Department.
The felling of 140 trees at Šodroš began on 24 March 2023 under a heavy police presence. In a brief clash with activists, one was punched in the head, and a police officer knelt on another's neck.
Police detained ten activists, among them older people who had sat down in front of “Vojvodinašume” trucks to stop the logs being taken away. All were released with misdemeanour complaints, and Miloš Rakić also with a criminal complaint. Branislava Kostić, who was among those detained, says a police officer in the vehicle threatened one of the arrested with a beating.
Police filed misdemeanour complaints against those detained for disturbing public order and peace, and criminal complaints over an alleged attack on an official. On 18 October 2022 Isidora Čeleketić received a criminal complaint for attacking an official, which she considers intimidation.
In September 2024 the Misdemeanour Court in Novi Sad convicted her of insulting an official, according to a statement from her legal team from the Free Citizens' Movement. The team says the verdict rests solely on the police officers' claims, without hearing the witnesses she had asked for.
Rakić is charged with obstructing a police officer in the performance of official duties because, before the cordon had formed, he ran between officers. He says the officers stopped him and he stopped moving. The case before the Novi Sad Basic Court has been going on for more than three years.
In 2026, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders wrote directly to the court and asked it to dismiss the criminal complaint. His letter reportedly says that police beat Rakić after knocking him to the ground; the state has not responded to his allegations from July 2025.