We call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs and all competent institutions to immediately stop the use of force against citizens protesting on the streets of Belgrade.
Recent events have shown a worrying willingness of the police to use tear gas, pepper spray, physical force, stopping ambulances and arbitrary arrests against protesters exercising their constitutional rights. Bullying behavior towards students, citizens and journalists is unacceptable and must be punished.
It is particularly worrying that the police violence was directed at the protesters in order to protect a counter-rally that the authorities themselves had scheduled at the same time, in the same area. Such behavior further compromises the institutional neutrality of the police and demonstrates the instrumentalization of state resources for political purposes. The police must not be a tool of the ruling party to break up protests by citizens who think differently.
Freedom of assembly, expressing dissatisfaction with corruption and demanding the accountability of the authorities are not a threat, but the basis of democracy. The police are not there to protect the government, but the citizens. Any form of excessive use of force is a serious violation of human rights and an indicator of the absence of the rule of law.
We also call on international actors to closely monitor the situation and make it clear that police brutality against their own people is unacceptable. Violence must not and cannot be a response to the students’ call for elections, which was offered only a few months ago by Aleksandar Vučić himself.