Students in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad organized a protest on Monday, demanding that the police find the men who beat up two students during a June protest by environmental activists.

The protest under the slogan Stop state Repression was held in front to the University Law School. Students Mihajlo Nikolic and Marko Djelevic, both activists of the Roof Overhead initiative, were beaten up on the university campus on June 8. A third student, Dejan Bagaric, was beaten up the next day following a 1 in 5 Million protest.  

Activist Miran Pogacar told N1 that the silence of institutions is a sign that these were cases of state repression. “We have violence perpetrated not only by the state but also by thugs who beat up three people on the university campus. That is one form of violence which is tolerated. The perpetrators have not been found,” he said, adding that his fellow activists asked the police about the investigation and found that it was not being conducted.  

Two young men appeared at the protest claiming to be students and shouting abuse at the protesters. They told N1 that the students had been beaten for carvings on trees not over the protest.