BRUSSELS – The European Green Party and the group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament condemned the police violence at the protest in Novi Sad, Serbia, on 5 September. The Greens also responded to the insults of President Aleksandar Vučić, who called the Green delegates who were visiting Serbia ‘scum’.
The protest in Novi Sad, the city where a collapse of the railway station canopy triggered mass protests last year, was called by the student movement as a reaction to the police violence during the previous protest, on 1 September.
According to the Arhiv javnih skupova, an organisation specialising in counting the number of people at protests, about 20,000 citizens attended on 5 September. The police claimed that the number was lower, at about 7,000.
Following a peaceful gathering, part of the protesters marched to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Novi Sad, where clashes with police began.
While videos of the event show several people from the crowd attacking the police, its response was described by many eyewitnesses as disproportionate and brutal, targeting peaceful citizens who were at the spot. Large amounts of tear gas were thrown by the police, and there were reports of injured protesters.
In a speech given late in the evening, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, among other things, noted the presence of the delegations of the European Greens, whom he repeatedly referred to as ‘scum’ and threatened to prosecute them.
Co-chair of the European Greens, Vula Tsetsi and Rasmus Nordqvist MEP, were visiting Serbia to show support for the protesters and their call for early elections, as well as their member party, the Green-Left Front.
Later on Friday, Tsetsi and Nordqvist travelled to Novi Sad to attend the protest called by the student movement against police violence.
In a late-night address on television on Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić noted their presence.
“Some scum have gathered there, the scum that cannot rule even in their own countries (…) Those who have come to demolish Serbia from the outside, from abroad have to know that we will fight back stronger than they thought (…) I respect Ursula von der Leyen, I respect Antonio Costa, but this scum from the European Green Party (…) the worst kind of scum that came to support the violence in Novi Sad. I have to tell them that they will be prosecuted in line with the laws of Serbia and nothing more than that. No more, no less than that”, Vučić said, according to the European Green Party’s statement.
Reacting to this statement, Vula Tsetsi said that “a President who once labelled peaceful protesters as ‘terrorists’ and now calls a Member of the European Parliament and a European political party delegation ‘scum’ has crossed every line of democratic discourse”.
“By portraying European visitors as threats to Serbia’s stability, he is attacking all democrats. What we witnessed is the authoritarianism that Serbian citizens face daily. Our solidarity is with them; their courage in defending democracy deserves support, not hostility. The European Union cannot remain silent”, Tsetsi said.
Rasmus Nordqvist, MEP and member of the European Green Party Committee, added that the Greens would not be intimidated by Vučić’s threats or insults.
“Having witnessed first-hand how Vučić is embracing authoritarianism, we reiterate our call for the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council to address the situation in Serbia,” Nordqvist said.
The S&D group also released a statement on 6 September, saying that “amid ongoing violence against the people of Serbia, President Vučić has now also resorted to desperate disrespect toward the European Parliament”.
“We strongly condemn the police violence in Novi Sad last night and the unacceptable slander directed at the Greens and Renew”, the statement reads.
