Brnabic: Reports of beatings in Novi Sad are media spin

Brnabic accused the protesters of attacking the Matica Srpska institution, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its bishops. The protest was staged in front of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad during a ceremony to mark the 200th anniversary of the Matica Srpska, the oldest Serbian literary, cultural, and scientific institution founded in Budapest in 1826 and moved to Novi Sad in 1864. The ceremony was attended by a number of state officials and church elders but not President Vucic who was scheduled to be there but did not show up.

Brnabic said that the protest “was not to fight the authorities or Aleksandar Vucic and the ruling SNS party, not a fight for justice, against corruption… but a battle against Serbia and everything it represents”. “This is an assault on the Serbian state, the pillars of our society and people,” she told a news conference. “As of last night, this is a battle for Serbia,” she said.

Brnabic, a ranking SNS official and Vucic’s close associate, said the reports of thugs beating up students were a media spin “thought up in some centers as a backup plan so we wouldn’t notice what was happening”.