Human rights activist Aida Corovic, who was briefly detained by Belgrade police on Tuesday for throwing eggs at a mural portraying convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, told N1 after her release that what happened was "a disgrace of (President) Aleksandar Vucic's regime."
„Fear could be seen in the eyes of those cops… we are hostages of an abnormally sick regime,“ she added.
Corovic said the men who arrested her did not identify themselves as police officers, and she thought they were hooligans and was afraid they would take her somewhere and beat her up.
The regime is widely believed to have used hooligans during 2020 summer’s anti-government protest to both provoke incidents and then beat and arrest demonstrators as plainclothes police officers.
She added that the men, who happened to be plainclothes police officers, started dragging her and that she held for a lamppost.
Jelena Jacimovic, an artist, was also arrested with Corovic.
Dozens of NGOs, opposition parties and individuals issued a protest against the arrest.
Corovic told N1 that „today is in many ways symbolic day“, adding they went in front of the mural and saw that, apart from journalists and the police, „there were no colleagues“.
„Our reaction was completely spontaneous; we didn’t think much; I was sorry to be there and for the media to leave. It was a symbolic act; we know that the mural will not be damaged (by eggs),“ she said.
What followed, she added, „was shocking. I felt someone’s hands, and I heard – leave the woman, the voice (of an activist and writer) Vladimir Arsenijevic. Nobody said – we are the police. I was trying to hold on to a lampost… “
Corovic said that an officer in the Vracar police station told her she shouldn’t resist the arrest and that his picture was taken.
After Corovic’s and Jacimovic’s release, activists, ordinary people, representatives of NGOs and opposition political parties gathered in front of the Trade Unions House in support of the two.
They then headed towards the mural, along the sidewalk, without blocking traffic.
The police cordons blocked the access to the building bearing the mural.
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