Serbian MP: Media attackers in Serbia are part of a paramilitary camp, its architect is Vučić

Serbian MP: Media attackers in Serbia are part of a paramilitary camp, its architect is Vučić

Yesterday’s attack on the N1 television crew, which was filming near the tent camp in front of the Serbian Parliament, has provoked strong reactions in Belgrade. Deputy Chairman of the Serbian People’s Party and opposition MP Borko Stefanović stated that the people in that area are acting as a “criminal paramilitary camp”, for which he says the architect and main responsible is President Aleksandar Vučić.

According to Stefanović, the attack on journalists is not an isolated case, but a consequence of the climate created by the government against all those who do not share the same political beliefs and are declared as “enemies of the state, terrorists or traitors.”

He stressed that “Cacilendi”, as it is often called in public, has been transformed into an “occupied extraterritorial zone”, where – according to him – completely different rules apply than those that apply to other citizens of Serbia. Stefanović claims that even people convicted of serious criminal offenses move freely there, including the man who allegedly attacked the N1 team.

The opposition MP also harshly criticized the police, who were in the vicinity of the incident, saying that the officers “just watched” the situation without intervening. “This is the identity card of this government,” he said, adding that the police are protecting the structures of “Cacilendi,” while citizens and journalists remain unprotected.

According to Stefanović, this incident is the clearest proof of the degradation of institutions and the fact that Belgrade, as he said, “is no longer Vučić’s city.”