Belgrade Police Charge Journalists Filming Protest Report

Police laid charges against four journalists from the Istinomer.rs news site and a campaigner against the Belgrade Waterfront project on Friday after preventing them from filming on the Sava riverbank ahead of the project's official opening at the weekend.

The Istinomer crew were filming a report about the "Let's not drown Belgrade" campaign, which will hold a protest to coincide with the official ceremony, in a public area close to the upmarket Savanova restaurant, the first building to be constructed as part of the government-backed Belgrade Waterfront scheme.

Vesna Radojevic, a journalist from Istinomer, told the Cenzolovka website that police asked them to leave after a request from the restaurant's private owner.

"Municipal police officers told us that we need to get out of there. I refused and asked on the basis of what law they were asking us to leave," said Vesna.

"Then they told me that the private owner asked them to take our ID cards and tell us to leave. Then there was a scuffle, because my cameraman at first refused to give them an identity card," she added.

Radojevic said police pushed the journalists, and the campaigner, Dobrica Veselinovic, was hit in the arm.

They were then charged with "obstructing an officer in the performance of official duties".

"The misdemeanour report which the municipal police wrote is saying that I refused to leave a 'clearly marked construction site'. The [Sava riverbank] promenade does not have permission for construction, so they are not able to expel us from the 'construction site'," said Veselinovic.

Radojevic also said there was no visible sign saying it was a construction site, or that they were on private property.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Muhamed al...