In Solidarity with Students, Academics, and Civil Society

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy strongly condemns the unlawful and inhumane deployment of prohibited weapons, such as acoustic devices, against peaceful protesters during a public gathering of hundreds of thousands of citizens paying tribute to victims of the collapsed roof in Novi Sad. This act represents a blatant display of force and an attempt to incite chaos, aiming to delegitimise protests and criminalise peaceful citizens.

We strongly condemn today’s armed police raid on the premises of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) without a proper court warrant.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) strongly condemns the Serbian authorities’ misuse of digital technologies for surveillance of citizens, as detailed in the Amnesty International report "Digital Prison: Surveillance and Repression of Civil Society in Serbia."

A large number of unfounded detentions and arrests of citizens in recent weeks have been accompanied by propaganda against alleged foreign mercenaries who, in the interest of hostile foreign countries, are said to be undermining the state order. The goal of such manipulations, propagated by government representatives and media controlled by it, is to justify repression against political dissenters and to deter citizens from participating in legitimate and legal protests through fear.

The Belgrade Centre for Security Policy categorically rejects and denies the falsehoods that were first published on the internet portal "Alo" on Saturday, October 21st, 2023, and then picked up by other pro-government media. This is a dirty campaign with the aim of discrediting the organisation and its executives, and the BCSP will seek protection in court proceedings.

This is an act of extreme violence against the institution of the National Assembly, since the decision was reversed without the MPs being granted the opportunity to make a decision, all in order to suspend the work of the Inquiry Committee in connection with the crimes of May 3 and 4, that is, so that the government would avoid the risk of political responsibility, related to the explosion of violence in society, becoming more visible through the work of that parliamentary body.