site.btaSerbian Students Allege Fellow Student Participating in Anti-Government Protests Have Been Subjected to Police Violence

Students participating in a blockade of the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade Tuesday said on X that one of their fellow students had been subjected to police violence during what was referred to as an interview.

Police officers took the student from her workplace to a police station in the early hours of the morning without her consent, the post says. There, she was interrogated by two uniformed officers and one plain-clothes officer, the students wrote.

"Our colleague was handed a document with unknown contents and was forced to sign it. When she refused, physical and psychological abuse followed," the post reads.

"A uniformed officer struck her head against a table, causing injury. She was then hit in the thigh with a gun and tied to a radiator - one hand restrained, the other left free so she could sign the document, which she again refused to do," the students said.

The student, whose name was not disclosed in the post, was denied access to legal counsel and contact with her family.

Days later, the student found a Barbie doll's severed head, painted red, left outside her office. She was later attacked on the street by unidentified individuals who forced her into a vehicle, questioned her about the blockades and protests, hit her on the head, and "touched her inappropriately," the post reads. 

The students are calling for an immediate response from authorities. “We want justice. Now!” the post concludes.

Mass protests led by students are ongoing in Serbia, with demonstrators demanding early elections and accountability for the deaths of 16 people who were killed when a railway station canopy collapsed in Novi Sad, Northern Serbia, on November 1, 2024. This summer the protests escalated into civil disobedience, clashes with police, and mass arrests.

The alleged incident involving the student was raised during a debate at the Serbian Parliament earlier on Tuesday. Opposition MPs displayed photos of the student’s injuries and demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Ivica Dacic. 

Later in the day, the Serbian Interior Ministry released a statement saying that "on September 24, 2025, at 6:55 p.m. local time, the Euromedik health facility notified Belgrade police that Anja Puskovic, born in 2004, had approached them, claiming that she had been injured by a police officer who had questioned her at the Higher Medical School."

According to the Ministry, officers did question Puskovic following the alert, but she declined to cooperate and provide any details about the incident, stating that her lawyer had advised her so.

The Ministry's statement adds that internal checks confirmed Puskovic had not been at Belgrade police headquarters on the day in question and that no police action had been taken against her.

“To date, we have not received any requests to collect the necessary information from the competent authorities,” the statement says.