Systemic Pattern of Police Violence against Protesting Youth Observed Last Year

Protest Over Police Entering Rectorate, March 31 2026 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Incidents during mass protests have shown a systemic pattern of police violence during 2025 and the excessive use of force against young people, it was stated on June 23 at the presentation of the annual report on youth human rights in Serbia in 2025, by the Belgrade Center for Human Rights.

“During the rallies, police have been observed failing to protect the demonstrators from violence by third persons. The police are obligated to take all measures to protect the participants of peaceful rallies; this protection was not there and a number of incidents have been recorded. Furthermore, there is the problem of the pardons from the state helm for persons who hit people at rallies with cars and for those who broke a girl student’s jaw in Novi Sad,” it was stated.

As for the use of the sound cannon at a rally on March 15 last year, it was stated further, the citizens have reported various symptoms and injuries. Although the state organs have denied its use, non-governmental organizations have collected eyewitness testimonies, the presenters said.

Report editor Goran Sandic said that, in 2025, education became a field of punishment because more than 100 teachers lost their jobs for supporting the students.

“A message is being sent to the students, and future ones, that a teacher who supports them will lose their job, a dean who opens her door for them will be attacked with a knife and a rector who protects them will be targeted by criminal charges, and this directly harms the right to education,” Sandic said, adding that the state provided EUR2,174 per student, which is less than all European countries for which data exists and five times less than the EU average.