Several hundred police officers, Gendarmerie and Intervention Unit, in riot gear, expelled all the gathered citizens, students and employees at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, who had been blocking the building of this higher education institution in Serbia since noon.
They gathered because Professor Jelena Kleut, who the Senate had previously not elected to the title of full professor, officially resigned today.
Kleut was among those thrown out of the faculty building, reports the Beta agency.
The protest in Novi Sad has ended, but in other cities, citizens have begun to gather in support of students from the Faculty of Philosophy.
In Novi Sad, students said that their fight does not end there, reports N1.
"We'll see you every next day on the street, at the faculty. This fight doesn't end here, the faculty may be open tomorrow, but we're still here and we won't stop until Jelena Kleut is returned to her place and until we have a free university," the student told the crowd gathered in front of the faculty.
Around 19 p.m., the people of Kragujevac began gathering at Students' Square, where a protest walk was planned in support of Professor Kleut and the Novi Sad students.
In Niš, the intersection near the Basic Court was also blocked in support of the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, while in Belgrade, citizens' assemblies called for a protest in front of the Serbian Parliament, where police officers began to arrive alongside the citizens, N1 reports.
The professional police association announced earlier that police officers acted exclusively according to the law during today's intervention.
How reports Danas, students and citizens in Novi Sad headed to the offices of the Serbian Progressive Party, and they are not even allowing the police to enter Zorana Đinđića Street.
The police reaction came after a conversation with the dean of the faculty, Milivoj Alanović, who had previously invited the police to enter the faculty.
After speaking with the police, he addressed the crowd, followed by a police officer who called on the crowd to disperse and end the blockade.
After this did not happen, first about thirty members of the Intervention Unit entered, without riot-fighting equipment, and surrounded the gathered crowd. After another order to disperse, which the gathered crowd again failed to do, more than 300 police officers entered the faculty building with riot-fighting equipment.
They blocked the door and pushed the crowd out. During the pushing, force was used, as could be seen from the moans of the police pushing towards the exit, Beta reports.
After about fifteen minutes, everyone gathered, as well as the journalists, left the building.
A cordon has been formed about a hundred meters from the entrance to the faculty, so that only the police can approach the building.
Students at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in the blockade have released footage of the police intervention.
After, as reports Danas, a double-digit number of police cars arrived, students, professors and other citizens were thrown out of the faculty hall.
The police had earlier issued a warning to students to leave the faculty building, and then began to push back the crowd.
Students blocking faculties in Niš have called on fellow citizens to hold an urgent protest today in response to the police raid on the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad.
The gathering is scheduled for 19 p.m., in front of the Basic Court building.
"The police are beating our colleagues. Silence is not an option, everyone take to the streets," said the Niš students, transmissions H1.
At 19 p.m., a gathering of students on the blockade of FILUM and the Free University of Kragujevac was announced on social media, from the profiles of students on the blockade, as well as citizens in that city, as well as a protest walk.
"The police acted according to the law"
The Professional Police Association announced that officers acted exclusively in accordance with the law during today's intervention at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, assessing that it was "a forced move at a time when there was a complete blockade of the work of a state institution and a violation of public order."
"Our duty is not to judge the reasons for someone's dissatisfaction, but to ensure the safety of all citizens and the smooth functioning of institutions," the association stated.
The professional association condemned, as it is reported, the attempt to use regular police intervention to "collect cheap political points".
"The Serbian Police is a professional service for all citizens, not a training ground for political showdowns. It is unacceptable that police officers, who wear their uniforms with honor, are targeted in the media or on social networks for doing their job. We call on all political actors and interest groups to exclude the police from their mutual conflicts," the statement reads, as reported by Beta.
The Police Association adds that the right to protest is inalienable, but that "it ends where the violation of the rights of others and the violation of the law begin."
"We call on students and citizens to express their views peacefully and to refrain from any form of resistance or attack on police officers. An attack on a police officer is an attack on the state and on the security of every one of our citizens. The Professional Association of Police sends a message to colleagues in the field: you are not alone. We will continue to fight for your integrity and dignity."
"We're not going anywhere until Jelena Kleut returns to work"
Earlier today, students, professors, and citizens gathered in the lobby of the Faculty of Philosophy, where sleeping bags and mattresses had arrived.
Those gathered earlier today said that if Professor Kleut cannot teach the class today, no one will, and around 13 p.m., sleeping equipment began arriving at the faculty.
"We are not leaving the faculty until Jelena Kleut returns to work," the students said.
The Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Milivoj Alanović, appealed to everyone on several occasions during the day to leave the faculty, otherwise, as he says, he will "have to take measures that no one wants."
Dean Miloj Alanović, Danas recalls, called the police to the faculty on August 26th of last year, after which they were present on the university campus for days, and after the protest on September 5th, there was police violence on the university campus.
Kleut: Anything the dean thinks he can tell me is better left for the court.
As Jelena Kleut told Danas, her lawyer will file a series of petitions that will be sent to various courts, and a request has already been sent to the education inspectorate to examine the legality of the entire process.
What will happen next is a lawsuit before the Administrative Court, which will relate to labor rights, but also a lawsuit for discrimination, since, as he points out, "it is blatantly clear that political criteria guided the actions of the Senate members."
"A temporary measure will also be sought to reinstate me to work until the proceedings are concluded. I don't think there's much chance that it will be granted. It's important because it would allow me to work until these long court proceedings are over and would allow the exam period and the end of the semester to go more or less smoothly. But here, everything that is some kind of legal ammunition will be used, with the caveat of course that we know how our judiciary works and that we don't necessarily need to rely on any judicial justice," said Kleut.
From November 20, 2025, when the decision was first made, until today, when she received the dismissal decision, the dean, she adds, has not sent her an email or called her at any time.
"It seems like a minimum of humanity to me, but we don't see that humanity. I was informed through the faculty's legal service that the dean is ready to receive me if I come by 12 noon today. I declined that invitation because everything the dean thinks he can tell me is better left for the court and other instances. The faculty management has not done enough to protect my rights, and that is a clear signal to all other colleagues from this faculty that they will not lift a finger," she said.
She believes that appearing at sessions is one thing, but fighting is another, and in that sense, she points out that the Dean of the Faculty of Faculty of Science and several other deans came to the Senate session more prepared, louder, with better and more well-founded arguments than her own.
"The students announced that they don't want to go. I received a lot of student messages in which they write that they are with me. I believe that now they are thinking of ways to explain what it means to be with me. Today, I had to write on the board for a class that was supposed to be held at 12 o'clock that we won't have that class because I got fired. I can see that they are upset and worried, but I think they are also determined to try everything in their power to somehow appeal to the dean's office to find a solution," Kleut concluded.
Alanović: I support the request to return to work
Dean Milivoj Alanović addressed those gathered in the hall of the Faculty of Philosophy in three speeches, saying that they could not suspend work because it would jeopardize the faculty's survival, Danas reports.
"I support the protest and the demand for Jelena to return to work. We will try to find a solution. We have no influence on what the status of Professor Kleut will be. The Senate said it. You expect something unrealistic from us. I cannot publicly condemn the Senate's decision because it is the decision of my fellow deans, but we say again that we publicly support our colleague Kleut. You expect me to break the law. If we do not hold classes now, we will be inspected, some programs will not be accredited," said Alanović and added that he invited his colleague Kleut to a meeting today.
"I feel uncomfortable and of course I'm sorry that she was fired, and because we now have this protest and we don't know what to do with the classes," Alanović continued.
The dean addressed those gathered in the hall and noted that there would be no blockades.
"There is no legal basis on which Jelena Kleut could maintain her employment at the faculty from today. I would ask my colleague Kleut to inform you that the faculty has absolutely no legal options. My colleague Kleut is aware of all legal proceedings," said the dean, who at one point called the gathering "a rowdy crowd that is giving him advice."
"We are canceling the blockade of the Faculty. We request that you vacate the Faculty premises as soon as possible. Please vacate the Faculty so that the administration is not forced to take measures to ensure this. The Faculty has absolutely no legal options in this case. Therefore, respected colleagues, please vacate the Faculty as soon as possible and enable normal functioning," concluded Alanović.
After the decision of the extended Senate of the University of Novi Sad was received yesterday, the Faculty of Philosophy administration drafted and delivered a resolution dismissing Kleut from the Department of Media Studies.
The employment of this professor for the narrower scientific field of Communication Studies was terminated on January 20th, as stated in the dismissal decision, "due to the expiration of the deadline on which it was based."
"All rights and obligations of the appointed person under the employment contract shall cease," the decision states.
Kleut appealed the Senate's decision not to appoint her to the title of full professor based on an objection filed outside the legal deadline. The extended Senate rejected her objection, and this decision was interpreted as political retaliation, given that the expert bodies had given a positive assessment to her paper for appointment to the title.
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