Original article (in Serbian) was published on 28/4/2025; Author: Milica Ljubičić
While students and citizens were being beaten with batons this morning in front of the Novi Sad Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (DIF), pro-government tabloids had a different version of reality. According to them, the violence was caused by “student blockers”, and the dean of DIF, Patrik Drid, was the victim of a “lynching” while trying to enter his faculty building.
This morning, units of the intervention police and gendarmerie tried to break up the student and citizen blockade in front of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (DIF) in Novi Sad by pushing and beating people with batons, aiming to allow the dean, Patrik Drid, to enter the building.
The scenes were quite brutal, police used pepper spray and hit citizens and students with batons, injuring several of them.
And here’s how the government-favored media reported on it.
Just a few minutes after the police intervention began, Informer reported that “terror has started” in Novi Sad and that “the blockers created chaos in front of the DIF building and prevented professors from entering the faculty”.
Not a single mention of the police using force to push and beat citizens with batons in an attempt to break the blockade, even though this was captured by multiple cameras at the scene.
In addition, Informer wrote that the “blockers cowardly attacked Drid”, claiming that “the villains want the man to die” and that they were “committing horrific violence”. At that moment, he was actually inside an ambulance, which students and citizens were preventing from moving. In a video published by students of the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, Drid can be seen sitting in the ambulance, looking at his phone.
Novosti reported on the incident in the same tone, claiming, among other things, that “the blockers are attacking the dean of DIF like wild beasts”.
The web portal Alo reported on this morning’s events in front of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (DIF) in a similar manner. They published a short text titled “Horror in Novi Sad! Drid entered the ambulance, horrific violence made by the blockers”. They, too, completely avoided reporting that the police had attempted to disperse the gathered crowd by force and enter the building.
Later, they escalated their rhetoric, claiming that “fascists demolished a vehicle carrying doctors” and that “they want Drid to die”. The same claims appeared on the web portal Novosti.
What happened in Novi Sad?
The Dean of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Patrik Drid, entered the faculty building as early as Friday, asking the students who were blocking it to end the blockade – a request that was rejected by the student assembly. According to Danas, Drid claimed that of 900 active students, more than half signed up for online classes, and that “a minority is blocking the building and preventing classes from being held”. At that time, he tore down the students’ banners from the entrance doors and announced that he would return to work on Monday.
In response, the students maintaining the blockade called on their peers to join them Monday morning in an action titled “Morning Exercise” to stop Drid from breaking through the blockade.
Indeed, Drid came to the building this morning, but when the students did not allow him inside, he returned with a police escort. In a statement to Danas, Drid said he called the police “because of the activists who are preventing me from entering my workplace”.
The police initially pushed back the gathered citizens and students using shields, but the situation escalated when they began hitting those present with batons, an event documented by several journalists and citizens.
Journalist Zarko Bogosavljevic told N1 that the police used pepper spray and did not discriminate in whom they were hitting. The Emergency Medical Service confirmed to Beta that there were injured individuals. They also reported that the tires on one of their vehicles had been slashed.
Drid, at one point, managed to reach the faculty building with police assistance. However, as Nova S reported, he was later escorted out arm-in-arm by provincial MP Milan Turanjanin and a student guard. The gathered crowd insulted him and threw water and bottles at him, after which he was taken to an ambulance.
The crowd then blocked the ambulance from leaving, and in a video shared by the students from the Faculty of Technical Sciences who are participating in the blockade, Drid can be seen sitting in the ambulance, looking at his phone. He later exited the vehicle and left, accompanied by the police.
The rhetoric of Interior Minister Ivica Dacic matched that of the pro-government media. He claimed that the police used minimal force, and only after they had been attacked.
“The police were carrying out their duty and were attacked in the process. We intervened in the least possible way, with minimal use of force, only to repel the attack on us”, he said.
According to 021, Dacic added that it was only through police intervention that Dean Patrik Drid was able to leave the scene of the incident and go to the Clinical Center of Vojvodina, since the gathered crowd had been preventing emergency workers from doing so.
Dacic announced that criminal and misdemeanour charges would be filed against all those who participated in the incident.
