For the second time since May 18, the security of the Chinese car tire factory Linglong near Serbia's northern town of Zrenjanin tried to stop a TV crew from filming outside their construction site late on Sunday.

After trying to prevent the team of Dutch journalists of NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting) from recording an activist’s statement outside the factory last month, the Linglong security members did the same with the NewsMax Adria crew.

Wearing uniforms and without IDs, the security people went on to the public area and stood in front NewMax Adria cameraman, trying to block the shooting.

They also used jackets to cover the camera, while at the same time filming the journalists with their mobile phones.

Later on Monday, the Association of Serbia’s Journalists (UNS) called on Linglong management to allow TV crews „an undisturbed shooting and interviews outside its construction site since according to the Law on Public Information and Media „the freedom of information must not be violated by the abuse of official, property and other rights.“

Before the intervention, the NewsMax Adria crew managed to film a statement by an activist, Ivan Zivkov also talked to the Dutch Crew last month.

Zivkov said that one of the reasons the Chinese company’s security acted like that was that „our institutions don’t react.“

He recalled that a construction inspector had recently said Linglong was illegally building the factory but that Vojvodina’s provincial Secretariat for Energy, Construction and Traffic issued the permit to the company, „covering up the illegal works.“

Zivkov and an NGO filed a complaint against the Secretariat, claiming the construction permit was issued without a prior study of the environmental impact of the factory.

He added that that ‘giant investment’ jeopardised the agricultural area.