The Safe Journalists network, which brings together more than 8,200 media professionals in the Western Balkans, has condemned physical and verbal attacks on media crews during a protest rally against Covid passes in Zagreb on Saturday.

In a statement on Tuesday, the organization called on the police to identify the attackers, the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute them, and the state leadership to condemn such attacks.

A reporter for RTL Television, Goran Latkovic, was assaulted at the rally. According to information the Croatian Journalists Association received from Latkovic, two unidentified persons attacked him from behind and slapped him twice in the face, while a third hit him in the ribs with his elbow, Safe Journalists said.

Latkovic was not the only target of the attack. Demonstrators also verbally abused the news crews of Nova TV, N1 Television, and state television HRT, and a group of them snatched the microphone from Al Jazeera reporter Nikolina Zavisic during a live broadcast. Protesters also attempted to gain entry into the HRT building but were stopped by the police.

Safe Journalists said it would inform all relevant local and international organisations of these incidents, stressing that any attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy and the rights of all citizens.

The statement was signed by the journalists associations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.