Protesters entered the newsroom of a Serbian television station loyal to former President Aleksandar Vucic on Monday evening, interrupting its broadcast and demanding the arrest of its editor. The incident took place as tens of thousands of people filled the streets for a second consecutive night of celebrations following Vucic's election defeat.
Live footage aired by Informer TV showed roughly 30 people walking into the newsroom and gathering around Dragan Vucicevic, the station's editor-in-chief and owner. Some chanted, "This is how it is in free Serbia!" and "Where is Vucic now?" Others called for Vucicevic to be arrested.
Vucic responded on his personal Instagram account, where he appeared in a jumper bearing the crossed-out word "sorry". He described the incident as an attack on free speech and on the freedom of journalism. Vucicevic said in a statement: "On the very first day of [Student List] power, they want to ban the media. They have said everything about themselves, and nothing about us."
The Student List, which grew out of a student-led anticorruption protest movement, defeated Vucic's alliance in an election on Sunday, ending his party's 14-year grip on power. Vucic became prime minister in 2014 and president in 2017. He had earlier served as information minister under Slobodan Milosevic and kept tight control over the media during his time in office.
Celebrations broke out across the country, with fireworks lighting the sky almost as soon as Vucic announced that he was conceding. Voter Jana Vasic told Al Jazeera the result meant "freedom from a dictatorship that has lasted for 12 years, that I cannot remember a time before."
The student movement has no clear leader, and Serbians are waiting to learn whom it will name as prime minister and to other key posts. Ilija Srdanovic, a cardiologist and the leading candidate on its list, urged supporters to remain peaceful in a video on Instagram. "We ask of you to stay calm and dignified until the end of the electoral process, just like you have been until now," he said, adding: "Don't resort to any form of violence."
The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia said it would file an application on Tuesday to have Informer TV's broadcasting licence revoked, citing systematic violations of law and programme obligations. Separately, a group gathered on Monday evening outside the private pro-Vucic Pink TV station in Belgrade, which police had cordoned off.
Earlier in the day, the public broadcaster RTV in the Vojvodina region opened its evening news bulletin with an apology to viewers. It said it had failed to fulfil its role, citing uncritical, one-sided reporting.
Media freedom in Serbia has been under scrutiny. Reporters Without Borders placed the country 104th out of 180 in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, its lowest ranking ever and the worst in the European Union-Balkan region. Last week, the election monitor Crta said national television stations gave three-quarters of the time allotted to politicians to government representatives, and that the Student List was portrayed negatively more than 80 percent of the time it was discussed.
