NOVI SAD, Serbia -- Two students at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad in Serbia were injured on September 23 by unknown assailants when they gathered outside the university’s rectorate to oppose the handling of elections to the student parliament.
The two injured students, Mila Pajic and Srdjan Djuric, are affiliated with the informal group Students Against Authoritarian Rule (STAV). They said they were attacked by a group of men dressed in black early in the morning in front of the rectorate building.
The incident occurred as the students and activists voiced opposition to the second round of elections for the student parliament. The STAV group considers the elections illegitimate because only one candidate list is running and because the elections are being held at the rectorate instead of at the Faculty of Philosophy, where the faculty's statute and regulations says they should be held.
Despite the incident on September 23, the elections proceeded as scheduled.
The university has not yet issued a statement on the incident, and it remains unclear when the results will be announced. The first round of voting occurred in April. There were also reports of physical confrontations between two student groups that demonstrated outside the rectorate in May.
Attempts to conduct elections for the student parliament at the Faculty of Philosophy have been prevented multiple times by a group of students demanding changes to the regulations governing the election. They argue that the current rules do not allow for equal participation among all candidates. Currently, only registered student organizations are eligible to run.
Among their demands are rule changes to allow multiple candidate lists and informal student groups to run.
Eligible voters can currently only support one list, which consists of candidates from the Student Alliance, a group that has dominated the student parliament at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad for years.
The students also claimed that authorities, including people associated with the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, were involved in efforts to disrupt their movement.
Pajic said the most recent incident started around 5 a.m. when she and the other activists noticed "figures sneaking behind the Rectorate through the bushes wearing caps, black masks, gloves, and dressed entirely in black."
She said she managed to record what was happening, and “that's when they threw some kind of explosive device at us, and we ran."
Djuric told reporters that around 30 young men dressed in black approached the group gathered outside the rectorate.
"They threw an explosive device at our feet, then started pushing and hitting us. They even assaulted a police officer," Djuric said.
"We suspect the attackers were part of private security already stationed inside the rectorate. When we reached the entrance with the police officer, he too was injured in the scuffle. I was kicked in the thigh, and my colleague Srdjan suffered a knee injury,” Pajic said, describing the injuries as minor.
The Serbian Internal Affairs Ministry told RFE/RL that their officials are investigating together with the prosecutor's office in Novi Sad. The case has been classified as a disturbance of public order, according to the Police Department.
A group of professors and associates at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad strongly condemned the violence against their students. They urged the administration to find a solution that would satisfy all students.