"Vijesti" journalist Balša Rudović and photojournalist Boris Pejović, who attended the removal of the monument to Pavle Đurišić in Gornji Zaostr today, said that an angry crowd of drunk people there mentally abused them for an hour and a half and threatened them with death, while the clergy present watched it all and did not respond to their call to help them.
Pejović said that at the beginning of the event, clergy from the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) "gave their blessing" to the "Vijesti" and "Pobjeda" teams to do their job.
"When the attack occurred, I sought help from a priest, who had initially given us a blessing for taking photos and filming. I asked him to help us return our equipment and stop attacking us. He claimed that the blessing was only valid for taking photos around the church, and with other priests he observed the harassment of journalistic teams," the "Vijesti" photojournalist said.
He pointed out that at first, those present did not allow photojournalists to take pictures, but that they were allowed to do so after the priest's permission. This, Pejović believes, is proof that the priest had influence over those gathered.
"Therefore, we have reason to suspect that the attacks were carried out with the blessing of priests, who were watching everything. An important detail is that the same priest who refused to help us directed us to park above the tent," said the "Vijesti" photojournalist.
He pointed out that before the attack on them, the journalist teams spent three hours at the rally in Gornji Zaostar without any incidents.
"Today, an angry crowd of drunk people attacked photojournalists from Pobjeda and Vijesti. Stevo Vasiljević was beaten, dozens of people beat him. After he was pulled out of the angry crowd with the help of several locals, they managed to either take away or destroy all his equipment. Then, several people worked to prevent him from being beaten further, several locals. They mentally harassed Boris Pejović and me for an hour and a half, threatened and insulted me," Rudović told TV Vijesti.
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He added that Pejović had received death threats.
"He was also accused of having his equipment confiscated. Under threats, they were forced to delete everything they had on their cameras, with words addressed directly to Boris that if any of the photos related to the removal of the monument were published in Vijesti, they would kill him with their bare hands. Police officers assured us that they would work to resolve this and that they would find the people who did this," Rudović concluded.
Berane police detained five people on suspicion of mistreating photojournalists in Gornji Zaostar today, and Danko Femić from Bijelo Polje, who is suspected of committing the criminal offense of endangering security, was arrested.
The police announced that they are working to identify other people who participated in the attack, while an intensive search is underway for one person whose identity has been established.
"Vijesti" was published earlier today after a journalist team parked a car above the place where a tent was set up and began photographing the removal of the monument to Đurišić, several people ran towards the photojournalists and began aggressively threatening them, getting in their faces, and grabbing their cameras and equipment.
After they took away and then broke some of Vasiljević's equipment, they forcibly brought him into a tent, where several people began to hit and threaten him.
Several locals managed to pull him out of the angry crowd and took him to the church to speak with the unnamed bishop.
Pejović and Vasiljević were forced under threat to delete all the material from the camera, after which Vasiljević was taken away in a Mercedes jeep down the road.
While all this was happening, two plainclothes police officers with a Dacia Duster police vehicle were just watching the attack on the journalist crews.
The photojournalists were repeatedly threatened with death, while all the while being insulted and called "spies."
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