On July 29, 2025, masked private security officers forcibly removed student protestors who were blockading the main university building of the State University of Novi Pazar (DUNP).
The blockade was part of a nationwide action launched on January 27, 2025, during which students physically occupied university buildings to ensure the complete cessation of academic exercises. The blockades were a tactic of the anti-corruption movement, “Stop, Serbia,” demanding better governmental accountability, which grew out of protests following the deadly collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy that killed sixteen people in November 2024.
After DUNP’s blockade had lasted for six months, university officials coordinated for private security officers to disperse the students occupying the building. The private security personnel entered the building, unidentified and masked, between 3 and 4 am. They shouted “fire,” prompting students to evacuate. Security officers dragged out students who refused to leave, with one student reportedly hospitalized due to injuries.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the use of force during a student protest. While university authorities have an obligation to take all reasonable measures to ensure the safety of students and university personnel and should endeavor to prevent disruptions that inappropriately inhibit the functioning of or access to higher education, they must do so consistent with their responsibility to ensure academic freedom and free expression on campus. Students and members of the public must refrain from violence, especially on campus, and have a responsibility to protect the exercise of academic freedom. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such actions undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.turkiyetoday.com/region/masked-security-raid-at-novi-pazar-university-sparks-nationwide-protests-in-serbia-3204964?s=2
https://www.masina.rs/eng/masked-men-violently-evict-students-in-novi-pazar-students-retake-building/
https://serbiantimes.info/en/students-thrown-out-police-accompanied-by-masked-men-broke-into-the-state-university-of-novi-pazar-video/
https://wonkhe.com/blogs-sus/inside-the-student-blockades-in-serbia/