Even the sparrows on the branch know that it is protest against police brutality which is in held in Novi Sad on September 5 marked exactly what the citizens came out to protest for - unprecedented police brutality.
The official number of uniformed members is now known Ministry of the Interior (MUP) who were hired that day to break up the demonstrations in Novi Sad - almost 600, writes 021.
The MUP responded to the portal's question that 220 members of the Gendarmerie, 180 police officers from the Novi Sad Police Department, 50 each from Subotica and Kikinda, as well as 40 members from the Criminal Police Department and the Security Unit (JZO) were engaged in "securing the undeclared public gathering".
Nothing without Kricka
The fact that the members of the JZO commanded by Marko Krichak were present were also noticed by the citizens at the meeting who joked to the gathered police officers guarding the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education that Krichak had come to them. the reporter of "Vremena" noted during the protest.
On September 5, the students in the blockade of the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad announced that the Public Health Service had arrived in Novi Sad, calling on those gathered to be safe, writes 021.
The security unit, which he commands Marko Kricak, came under public scrutiny after protests in Belgrade in August, when the student Nikolina Sinđelić told that members of the JZO escaped from the garage of the Government of Serbia, where they detained several people, after which they harassed and threatened them.
What happened in Novi Sad on September 5?
The actions of the police that day and night in Novi Sad are characterized by a part of the public as the most brutal in the last few years. Large amounts of tear gas were thrown at the mostly peaceful demonstrators, and several dozen people were detained.
After the gathering of citizens at the intersection of Bulevar Tsar Lazar and Stražilovska where the protest was held, the gathered marched to the Faculty of Philosophy, where members of the MUP had been staying for several days at the invitation of Dean Milivoj Alanović.
On that day, people took to the streets of Novi Sad precisely because the police besieged the universities and because a few days earlier they reacted violently to the demonstrators.
After a few minutes, the MUP issued a statement that it expected an attack by the demonstrators on the police. Soon there was a conflict and police intervention.
Citizens were hit by a large amount of tear gas, but also by strong police forces. The police tried to break into the Faculty of Science, but they were prevented from doing so Dean Srdjan Rončević, while members of the MUP entered the Rectorate building, where they detained those who found themselves inside for several hours.
The authorities claimed that the police did everything according to the law. Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic claimed that it was the police who were attacked en masse.
Police Director Dragan Vasiljević stated that the police "minimally intervened when they were brutally attacked" and congratulated the police officers for "standing up". The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, also defended the police, stating that the policemen were attacked "out of pure peace", and that they were doing their job professionally.
Immediately after the protest, the officials went public with the number of injured policemen, but there was no mention of injured citizens.
The students in the blockade of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics made the claim that the MUP used the protest on September 5 CN tear gas, whose effect is stronger and more dangerous for people. The MUP then denied the use of this means.
Source: 021/Vreme
