Brnabic Gets Out of Car, Argues With Citizens in Belgrade
Acting President Ana Brnabic was filmed on election night on a Belgrade street arguing with a group of young men, and the sources differ on her first words.
Ana Brnabic, Speaker of the Serbian Parliament and acting President of the Republic, was filmed on a Belgrade street on the night of October 25 to 26 arguing with a group of citizens. The weekly Vreme posted the footage on X, and Telegraf, Kurir and Net.hr picked it up after midnight.
What the footage shows
According to Kurir, Brnabic was driving past when the group shouted that she was a “c***” and a “coward.” She turned back and got out of the car. Kurir calls the crowd “blockaders,” Telegraf writes about a group of young men, and Net.hr says citizens. The sources also disagree on what exactly she said first, so both versions are given here.
Telegraf reports that she said:
“I was passing by and you told me ‘where are you, b**es!’ Tell me why I’m a c*! What is it now”
Net.hr gives her opening differently: “Just tell me, since I came here…” One of the young men answered her, according to Telegraf, with the question: “Who is yelling at you? How can anyone hear you through an armored car.” Net.hr records that reply in different words, saying the man asked how many decibels the armored glass blocks.
Kurir says Brnabic told them: “Don’t insult and threaten people,” after which, the paper writes, the group claimed the insults were not aimed at her but at everyone in general.
Who pointed at whom
Net.hr writes that when the man asked again who was yelling at her, Brnabic answered “The two of you” and pointed at him and another man wearing glasses. That outlet also carries this line from her:
“Go on, say it. So we are c***s until we come and look you in the eye”
According to the same source, she said this while pushing away the hand of a woman who had approached her. The crowd shouted “good night” at her, sang “whoever doesn’t jump is a caci” and honked their horns. Brnabic stopped in the middle of the road and said: “Run me over, go on, run me over,” while the song “A sad adio” (“And Now, Farewell”) played in the background.
The sources describe the end of the exchange differently. One of the young men wanted to shake her hand. According to Telegraf, Brnabic then walked away with her bodyguards, while Net.hr says she did not accept the handshake.
What came before
Earlier that evening, Brnabic, as a vice president of the Main Board of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), spoke from the party’s election headquarters. Republika carries her statement:
“The colored revolution has won, we have nothing to be ashamed of, we will keep defending Serbia”
According to the same source, the songs “Ruzmarin” and “Aco Srbine” could be heard at the headquarters. Before that, Aleksandar Vucic, head of the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list, said they did not have final results but could see from a sample that the list had lost. By his account, the “Student List” will win between 135 and 140 seats and the SNS around 105. Those are Vucic’s figures, based on a sample, not results from the Republic Electoral Commission, as we already reported in our piece on the concession of defeat.
In the sources we reviewed, there is no response or explanation from Brnabic after this footage.
