This article (read in full) is part of a series published by IPI and written by expert guest contributors from across Europe on different threats facing media freedom and independent journalism. This article focuses on the latest surge in attacks on journalists in Serbia in the last week amidst the latest anti-government protests and the state response. The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of IPI.

Amidst the increasingly violent state response to anti-government protests in Serbia recent days, attacks and pressure on journalists have reached unprecedented levels, deepening what is already one of the worst media freedom crises in Europe.

Death threats and physical attacks against journalists and media workers are now occurring on a near daily basis, as reporters and photojournalists cover violent clashes between riot police, government-backed hooligans and student-led protesters.

Yet even as the law enforcement authorities and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led government of President Aleksandar Vučić crack down and the emergency situation for journalists worsens, many in Serbia have the feeling that worse is yet to come.

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) told IPI it has now recorded more than 232 different attacks between the beginning of the year and August 22.

More than 42 attacks against journalists were recorded since the first day of August, with 10 occurring during coverage of recent mass protests on August 13, when the latest surge of protests broke out across the country carrying calls for new elections.

“The number includes 52 cases from March until now of assaults, threats, obstruction by the police or when the police did not respond – when the law enforcement officers witness the attacks, they simply turn and walk away,” Rade Đurić, a lawyer at NUNS, told IPI. “We haven’t yet counted hate speech and other forms of pressure. Who knows how many stayed under the radar.”

This high number of attacks on journalists – the most ever recorded in modern Serbia during that time period – and the lack of accountability for the perpetrators, is having a chilling effect on the press as they try to cover the ongoing protests.

Yet even as the tactics of the government and police become increasingly apparent, independent media and civil society in Serbia are again criticising reactions from Europe as lukewarm and insufficient.

“For us, in an authoritarian society, the most dramatic thing is that despite dozens of attacks on journalists a day and many more on citizens, the EU does not respond in a meaningful way,” Veran Matić, chairperson of the management board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), told IPI.

He added: “The citizens of Serbia have been expecting a proper reaction from the European Union for months. There is no adequate response from the EU institutions, which emboldens the government. Every day we have a dozen new attacks on journalists, and this is the new normal.”