{"id":12367,"date":"2026-03-20T13:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=12367"},"modified":"2026-03-31T13:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:28:08","slug":"cause-of-schoolyard-fire-in-serbian-municipality-still-unknown-pro-government-media-speculate-blockaders-were-responsible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/cause-of-schoolyard-fire-in-serbian-municipality-still-unknown-pro-government-media-speculate-blockaders-were-responsible\/","title":{"rendered":"Cause of Schoolyard Fire in Serbian Municipality Still Unknown, Pro-Government Media Speculate \u201cBlockaders\u201d Were Responsible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Original article<\/em><\/a> (in Serbian) was published on 19\/3\/2026; Author: Milica Ljubi\u010di\u0107<\/em>
<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A fire that broke out on March 16 in waste material next to an elementary school building in the municipality of Kosjeri\u0107, Serbia, currently undergoing reconstruction, was used by the tabloid Alo to allege that \u201cblockaders started the fire.\u201d Alo cited a report by the news agency RINA, which relied solely on suspicions voiced by anonymous citizens. However, the Primary Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office in Po\u017eega told Raskrikavanje that the cause of the fire remains unknown and that there are no suspects at this time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, March 16, waste material caught fire in the yard of the \u201cMito Igumanovi\u0107\u201d Elementary School in Kosjeri\u0107, next to a part of the school building currently undergoing reconstruction. According to media reports published later that day<\/a>, the fire was quickly extinguished and no one was injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days later, the tabloid Alo published an article in its print edition under the sensational headline: \u201cDid blockaders set a school in Kosjeri\u0107 on fire?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Article published in the newspaper Alo (March 18, 2026)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The term \u201cblockaders\u201d is used by pro-government media and officials to refer to citizens protesting against the authorities in Serbia, as well as opposition supporters and activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to falsely claiming that the school had been set on fire, Alo also speculated about who might be responsible for the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relying solely on the opinions of unnamed citizens, the tabloid suggested that so-called \u201cblockaders\u201d were behind the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome citizens suspect that the fire at the elementary school was started by the so-called blockaders. However, the final word will be given by the police and a thorough investigation,\u201d Alo stated in the final paragraph of its article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Primary Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office in Po\u017eega told Raskrikavanje that the cause of the fire is currently unknown and that there are no suspects at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe duty prosecutor has been notified and has instructed police officers to establish all the circumstances of the incident,\u201d the office said in a statement to Raskrikavanje.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raskrikavanje also contacted the Ministry of Interior\u2019s media service to ask about the progress of the investigation and whether the cause of the fire had been determined. However, no response was received by the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An identical report about the fire in the schoolyard in Kosjeri\u0107 was first published by<\/a> the Regional Information News Agency (RINA). Unlike Alo, RINA\u2019s headline stated that there was suspicion the fire had been \u201cdeliberately set.\u201d In the final paragraph, it noted that \u201csome citizens suspect that the fire was started by the so-called blockaders,\u201d a claim later picked up by Alo two days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RINA agency is owned by Ivan Nikoli\u0107, the son of journalist Gvozden Nikoli\u0107, who openly supports the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The agency has for years secured part of its funding through public co-financing for media projects. In 2025 alone, RINA received funding for projects worth nearly 3.5 million dinars (around \u20ac29,000), according to data from the Serbian Business Registers Agency (APR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated in English using AI tools, then thoughtfully refined by a human editor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Serbian) was published on 19\/3\/2026; Author: Milica Ljubi\u010di\u0107 A fire that broke out on March 16 in waste material next to an elementary school building in the municipality of Kosjeri\u0107, Serbia, currently undergoing reconstruction, was used by the tabloid Alo to allege that \u201cblockaders started the fire.\u201d Alo cited a report by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[28,318],"class_list":["post-12367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-serbia","tag-tabloids"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12370,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12367\/revisions\/12370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}