In the fiercely divided and polarized Montenegrin society, public gatherings have almost always been attended by those who were bothered by the reporting of a media outlet, and they have often resorted to violence against people who are just doing their job. That the truth and the facts conveyed hurt those actors who are doing something illegal and dishonorable was demonstrated yesterday in Gornji Zaostar near Berane, when photojournalists Boris Pejović and Stevo Vasiljević of Vijesti and Pobjeda were brutally attacked. The Media Union says that an attack on media workers such as the one that occurred yesterday has not been recorded in practice so far.
"Our journalists, in this case photojournalists, have never been unlawfully deprived of their liberty and kidnapped before, and that is exactly what happened to our colleagues Pejović and Vasiljević. For an hour and a half, a group of people, whatever they were - drunk or sober, abused them in the way they thought fit, they took away their equipment, they beat them, they even took our colleague Vasiljević somewhere, so they formally kidnapped him, so this is a completely new dimension and an indication that we are not safe anywhere in any way," said Marijana Camović Večković, vice president of the Media Union.
Both Camović Velicković and Mila Radulović from the Society of Professional Journalists agree that the police are responsible for the unprecedented lynching of photojournalists Vasiljević and Pejović yesterday.
"The police had to have an assessment that the media would cover the event and somehow ensure and assess the situation in advance so that they could do so without hindrance. Unfortunately, none of that happened and this event is truly scandalous, dangerous for the media itself, for society itself, considering what happened and what was the reason for the attack," said Radulović.
"The police, who were supposed to guarantee security even at the Chetnik rally for media representatives, who, as my colleagues told me, were nowhere nearby at that moment, failed," Camović added.
TV Vijesti did not answer why the police did not film and secure yesterday's rally during the installation and removal of the monument to Chetnik commander and war criminal Pavle Đurišić. It is also unknown whether, as they announced, they investigated the actions of two plainclothes officers who, according to the victims, witnessed the attack without reacting.
"We are demanding accountability for why this happened and who is responsible for it and what consequences these individuals, we want to know their names and surnames, will bear," said Camović Velicković.
"We will insist and monitor how the police will prosecute the attackers. We are particularly concerned about how the prosecution will prosecute the attackers because unfortunately we have a very bad experience with that," said Radulović.
And the bad experience so far when it comes to attacks on journalists has obviously not changed us much. As long as journalists and media workers whose job it is to inform the public are easy targets for abuse, harassment and beatings, for which the perpetrators receive symbolic punishments, there will be no progress for either society or the state.
Bonus video:
