July's Protests
The anti-lockdown protest in Belgrade that took place in July 2020, caused by high level of frustration with government arrogance, incompetence and intransparency in dealing with the pandemic. The protests were triggered by President’s announcement on reintroducing curfew. Since the beginning of the protests the government has been controlling and tolerating violence instigated by a small, but well-organized groups of nationalists and hooligans, with the aim of discrediting justified citizens’ anger. However, the situation went out of control when other groups extremists, not controlled by the authorities, increased violence and stepped up attacks on the police. Since the protests have been hijacked by a couple of hundred nationalists who imposed defending Kosovo as the main issue and, in such a way, derailed the citizens’ anger over government misconduct related to the pandemic, the overall number of protesters was steadily dropping. The photojournalists who covered these events were considerably obstructed in covering the protest due to constant threats to their lives and equipment coming from the violent protesters. Belgrade, July 8-12, 2020.
