Skadarska 51: N1 Barred From Alleged SNS Call Center
N1's reporter was not let into the premises on Skadarska Street, Zbor Batajnica posted footage with lists, and Informer reports masked intruders. SNS and police have not commented.
On election day, October 25, two separate stories emerged about call centers of the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list. A crew from N1 went to Skadarska Street 51 in Belgrade after a call from citizens, to a spot suspected of housing a call center of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), but the reporter was not let inside. Meanwhile, Zbor Batajnica posted a video on Instagram of a room with lists of citizens, and Informer, Kurir and Alo write that masked people burst into an SNS call center.
None of these claims has been confirmed by an independent source, and the available articles contain no statement from SNS, the police or the prosecutor’s office. So we set them side by side here, with who claimed what.
What did N1 record on Skadarska Street?
According to N1, citizens reported that the address at Skadarska 51 houses an SNS call center from which voters are being pressured. The crew tried to go in and film what was happening, but, N1 says, was prevented from doing so.
The footage shows, N1 writes, people dressed in black blocking the door and then lowering the shutters so the camera could not capture the interior. Before that, according to the broadcaster, the camera managed to record that those inside had lists, and the reporter saw that phone calls were being made. N1 does not say who the people in black are or who uses the space.
What does the Zbor Batajnica video show?
Zbor Batajnica posted a video on its Instagram profile today that Nova.rs describes as footage of an SNS call center. The door of the room carries Car Go advertisements, and on the tables, Nova.rs writes, are papers with lists of citizens, which the outlet calls lists of sure votes.
In the video, the employees cover their faces and turn away from the camera, and some are crying. According to Nova.rs, they shout at the people filming: “Move away from me!” Nova.rs does not say where the video was shot, and no source names the employees. For that reason we do not link it to either Skadarska Street or Batajnica.
What are media reporting about masked intruders?
Alo and B92 reported this morning, citing Informer, that people “with iron bars” burst into an SNS call center. B92 writes that in Batajnica a group of people harassed an activist. Kurir says one of the masked men wore a helmet and that they threatened women working in the call center. Novosti report that several masked people entered the room and began shouting, and that the young women were frightened. On X, Dejan Vukelic posted a video of the intrusion with a single word: “Violence”.
The sources give no number of attackers, no street, no injured people and no arrests. The available articles also contain no police statement.
In a later article, Kurir called Skadarska Street the call center of the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list and wrote that the N1 crew tried to burst in. The same article says:
“Let us point out that call centers are not illegal, that they exist in all countries of the world, and that they serve to motivate one’s own voters to turn out for elections.”
Kurir also claims that N1 reported, “without any critical apparatus,” that voters are allegedly being pressured there. Neither Kurir nor N1 carries a response from SNS.
What is known from before?
Nova.rs recalls that SNS call centers are nothing new. The Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) exposed in 2023, ahead of the December elections of that year, how an SNS call center operates and pointed to possible vote buying and misuse of citizens’ personal data. Then opposition candidates for members of parliament Jelena Jerinic and Djordje Pavicevic filed a criminal complaint against those suspected of being responsible. According to CINS, three years later nothing is happening in that case.
Citizens of Serbia are voting today in snap parliamentary elections from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are 6,450,523 eligible voters at 8,392 polling stations, according to figures reported by Novosti.
