site.btaUniversity of Nis Prof. Attacked with Knife over Support for Anti-government Protests, Blames President

University of Nis' Philosophy Faculty Dean Prof. Natalija Jovanovic was attacked with a knife on the street late on Sunday. Jovanovic was among the first university professors who supported the students' demands in their protests against corruption and for a fairer society. Jovanovic was stabbed in the hand, the perpetrator was detained. The knife attack on Jovanovic in Nis was committed by a elderly woman who also threatened to pour sulfuric acid on her face.

Jovanovic blamed President Aleksandar Vucic for the incident. The leader of the Serbian opposition Freedom and Justice Party Dragan Djilas commented that the attack was "a direct consequence of a brutal campaign" and recalled that the Serbian President had repeatedly verbally attacked and called Jovanovic a "criminal".

"Vucic is not only responsible - he is the creator, the architect of this type of society. A society in which no one who has the courage to oppose the regime is safe. We should all be aware that this is not the end - this is the beginning of a dangerous spiral of violence in which we will sink even further if we do not stand up to the organized crime group that rules Serbia," said Dilas.

Two days before the attack on Jovanovic, Public Investments Minister Darko Glisic called Belgrade University Rector Vladan Dokic "the face of evil", accused him of corruption and demanded he be arrested for his support of the student protests. The Belgrade University Rector's Board then defended Dokic, and on Monday expressed support for Jovanovic as well. 

Due to the attack on Jovanovic, protests will be held Monday in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Nis and Novi Sad, the regional TV channel En 1 reported.

For the last five months, more than 60 university faculties across Serbia have been blocked in anti-corruption protests which began in November 2024. The public outrage was sparked by the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people and severely injured one more. The protesters accuse the government and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of corruption and nepotism over what happened.

The attack is the latest such case in a public place since the beginning of the protests in Serbia. In Novi Sad in mid-January, an elderly man tore down posters and verbally attacked medical students with a knife. Since last autumn, in various Serbian cities, cars have deliberately rammed into protesters during roadblocks.

On the day of the first call for a general strike in Serbia, a student was injured in a car accident and admitted to hospital. Before that a young girl was also injured and admitted for treatment.

During the first blockade in Belgrade on January 27-28, supporters of the then ruling Serbian Progressive Party attacked a group of students in Novi Sad with baseball bats and broke the jaw of a student because she was sticking stickers saying "Your hands are covered in blood" on the facade of the party office. In Novi Sad last week, a student was seriously injured by a group of attackers.

Hours before the largest anti-system protest in Belgrade on March 15, representatives of the disbanded elite structure of the Serbian Interior Ministry, created by former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic - the Red Berets, attacked a young man with a rod because he was trying to enter the camp of counter-protesters loyal to the Serbian President.