More than 100 former and active members of the MUP signed a public appeal to their colleagues to refuse illegal orders in the midst of blockades in Serbia. The police were accused of brutality, intimidation, beatings.
It is an understatement to say that part of the public does not believe at all that the police act in accordance with the law - but as a political instrument.
Among them is Uglješa Bokić, who left the service in 2023 due to dissatisfaction with the situation in the MUP and switched to journalism. Even today, he is in contact with his former colleagues and says that a part of the police does not support the current situation at all.
"The law obliges them to work and to be on the street, and on the other hand there is a moral question that is imposed and which is in complete contradiction to what the law requires of them," Bokić told Deutsche Welle.
Maybe a quiet rebellion
Two active police officers with whom DW spoke also testify to this. They say that dissatisfaction is growing among members of the MUP, especially in recent months, but that for now "they are just grumbling under their breath", writes DW.
"Maybe people wish for it, but the fact that the police will go over to the side of the people is a rather romanticized thesis," says Bokić. "Rather, I can imagine some kind of quiet rebellion in the sense that people will leave, take sick leave, or look for other ways to avoid intervening on citizens, without jeopardizing their status in the MUP again," explains Bokić.
He rejects the theories circulating in the public that the government replaced the police officers with "people from the outside", because, as he says, such information would surely leak. However, he claims that there is a "small circle of absolutely loyal regimes" in the police.
"For example, the Unit for the Security of Persons and Facilities, which is commanded by Marko Kricak - the man brought by [Bratislav] Gašić," says Bokić.
According to his information, it was this unit that took part in the incident in front of the Faculty of Law, when, as can be seen in the video published on social networks, a group of policemen harassed a female student and pulled her hair while trying to unlock her phone.
Brutality is being covered up.
So far, no policeman has been held accountable for your actions.
How it looks in practice, one of the inspectors of the Department of Internal Control of the MUP reveals to "Vreme". He has been with his colleagues for months on the street, in civilian clothes, and observes what his colleagues in uniform are doing.
"But not to monitor their professionalism, but to record how loyal they are to the ruling party, since the party controls the police force," said the inspector, who asked not to be named.
"When they receive the order to disperse the crowd, then, also due to political pressure, no matter how brutal they are, they are not responsible for the excessive use of force. Everything is covered up," he adds.
sources: DW, Vreme
