Hundreds of Serbian students clashed with the Police last night during a protest in front of the University of Belgrade Rectorate, located in the center of the Serbian capital, due to the police search of the offices of this educational institution. The crowd scuffled with the officers, as reported by Reuters, who used batons to disperse them.
As explained by the Police, the search was part of the investigation into the death of a student last Friday who fell from a window at the Faculty of Philosophy, adjacent to the Rectorate.
The university rector, Vladan Djokic, appeared on the balcony with a megaphone and told the crowd of protesters that the Police entered the building without a valid legal explanation in search of documents and seized computers. "They can raid university facilities, but they cannot raid people's conscience", he said to the cheering crowd. "The university does not stand by its walls. It stands by its people. Teachers who refuse to be silent. Students who refuse to be afraid. Citizens who refuse to forget the sixteen lives of Novi Sad," Djokic declared.
The director of the Serbian Police, Dragan Vasiljevic, stated that the officers acted under a court order when they entered the university offices to search for evidence related to the student's death, as reported by the same news agency. In a press conference in Belgrade, he reported that the Police found firecrackers, walkie-talkies, gas masks, banners, and first aid supplies during the search.
The student movement began their protests following the accident on November 1, 2024, in Novi Sad, in the north of the country, where 16 people died due to the collapse of an overhang at a recently renovated train station. The students occupied faculties and the rectorate itself and held massive demonstrations, such as the one in Belgrade in March 2025. Since last June, they shifted their political action and are preparing to present a list in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year. The list and electoral program remain secret until the elections are called for fear of government reprisals.
Statement from the rector of the University of Belgrade:
The text was published by the Serbian outlet Vreme:
Today [yesterday] at noon, members of the Criminal Police entered the building of the University of Belgrade Rectorate. Without prior notice. Without a clear legal explanation. Without respecting the autonomy of Serbia's oldest and most respected educational institution.
They confiscated computers and receivers. They are searching the offices. They are requesting documents.
And as they did so, the regime's television broadcasted it live. They did not come to investigate. They came to humiliate. They came to tell all professors, all students, all citizens: look at what happens to those who do not remain silent.
A young woman died on Thursday. A tragedy that deserves a dignified, independent, and thorough investigation. The University of Belgrade immediately requested such an investigation and we offer our full cooperation.
Instead, what we saw was a police raid recorded on video.
The rector's computers do not contain relevant information for the investigation into the death of a student from the Faculty of Philosophy. Everyone knows it. But that is not the point. The point is the image: the police in the rectorate. The rector under investigation. The university on its knees.
That image is for you. For you to be afraid. For you to think: if they can do this to the University, what can they do to me?
But let's look at the second image.
While the police entered through one door, the students entered through the other. Thousands. Spontaneous. Without invitations, without organization, without buses. They came because they know what is happening. They came because this is their university. They came because they are not afraid.
That is the true image of today. It is not the police in the Rectorate. There are already students in front of it.
To the authorities who ordered this, I say the following:
You can take the computers and receivers. You cannot take the truth.
You can search the offices. You cannot scrutinize people's conscience.
You can send the police. But for every patrol you send, a thousand students will come.
Sixteen people died in Novi Sad. No one was held accountable. No one was replaced. Signal receivers were not confiscated. Offices were not searched.
But when the rector defends the students, that's when the police arrive.
That says it all about this government. They are not afraid of crime. They are afraid of education.
You saw what happened today. You saw the police in your university. You saw the cameras broadcasting it as if it were a victory.
That is not a victory. It is an admission of defeat. When the Government sends the police to the university, it means they have lost all arguments. When they engage in sabotaging computers instead of answering questions, it means they have no answers.
You were on the streets for fifteen months. In the rain. In the sun. In the cold. They said you would give up. You didn't. They said you were a terrorist. You weren't. They said you were a foreign mercenary. You weren't. Now they send the police to your university.
What happened today at the University of Belgrade was not a personal attack against me. It is an attack on the idea that there is something in Serbia that the government cannot control. The university is the last institution standing. That's why they came.
But the University does not stand by its walls. It stands by its people. Teachers who refuse to be silent. Students who refuse to be afraid. Citizens who refuse to forget the sixteen lives of Novi Sad.
You can take the computers and receivers. But what defines this University — honor, knowledge, truth — cannot be boxed up and taken out of the building.
The University of Belgrade fully respects the rule of law. We support any legitimate investigation. But what happened today has nothing to do with the investigation. It was intimidation.
I reiterate our call: we request an independent investigation, internationally supervised if necessary, into the circumstances of our student's death. We seek forensic experts, not political agents. We seek the truth, not punishment for those seeking it.
Today, the police stormed the University of Belgrade. It is being broadcasted live as a political spectacle. This is not an investigation. It is a confrontation with freedom of thought.
I invite universities across Europe, the European Commission, the European Parliament, and all those who believe in academic freedom to echo this initiative. Belgrade today. Tomorrow, any other university in Europe that dares to support its students.
I will conclude as I began: with the truth. This Government is not attacking the University because we have done something wrong.
They are attacking us because we have done something right.
We support the students. We defended the truth. We support Serbia.
And we will continue to do so. With or without recipients.
It is not about malice, but about conscious power.