PUF says two members detained at Zrenjanin rally
The United Phantoms Movement says Pernat and Petrovic were held at a station until the rally ended and accuses police of shoving and hitting them. Police have not responded.
Two members of the United Phantoms Movement (PUF), Milan Minja Pernat and Petar Petrovic, were detained in Zrenjanin on Sunday, October 11, while a rally in support of Aleksandar Vucic’s list was under way in the city. According to the movement’s statement, the two intended to put questions to the rally, and they were held at a police station until it ended.
What happened in Zrenjanin?
So far the account comes from the movement itself. Miljan Cicic, a PUF member, told Danas that police stopped the movement’s members from approaching the Progressive Party rally. Among them was Nemanja Sarovic, whom Cicic describes as a journalist with KTV television. He described the incident this way:
“They surrounded us as soon as we got close, including a Crta observer who happened to be there with us. They pushed us away without any explanation, and then detained Minja and Petar”
Cicic thus says that a Crta observer was among those surrounded and, in his words, was not part of the group but simply happened to be standing next to it.
What does the movement claim about police conduct?
In a statement carried by N1, PUF says Sonja Pernat and Cicic were completely prevented from moving freely at the same time, as were the KTV crew and Sarovic. The reports differ on one detail: Danas lists Sarovic as a KTV journalist, while the statement carried by N1 names him separately from the television crew. On the conduct of the police, the movement says:
“Police officers violently shoved and hit them, and then surrounded them in a cordon they could not leave. Has the unlawful restriction of freedom of movement become a legitimate police tool? With these actions, the Zrenjanin police, led by Branislav Todorovic, have once again sided with the regime”
The movement thus ties responsibility to the leadership of the Zrenjanin police and names Branislav Todorovic.
Who is demanding the police chief’s resignation?
N1 reports in the same article that the irrevocable resignation of the Zrenjanin police chief is “the smallest and first step that must be taken, followed by the establishment of responsibility before independent institutions after a change of government”. N1 attributes that assessment to the Changes in Focus movement, not to PUF, and does not explain how the two movements are connected, so it remains unclear whether this is a demand of PUF itself.
For its part, PUF asks why Zrenjanin was under a complete siege by police forces if Vucic attended the rally as an ordinary citizen.
What is still unknown?
None of the published reports carries a police statement on the incident, so the grounds for the detention are unknown, as is whether any charges were filed against the two PUF members. It has also not been confirmed whether Pernat and Petrovic were released when the rally ended: the movement says only that they were held at the station until its end.
The reports also differ on what to call what happened. The headlines of Danas and the portal 021 use the word “arrested”, while the Danas and N1 texts speak of detention. Everything in this article attributed to the movement remains its claim, and the other side has not given its version.
