Student Detained at Airport; Tabloids Claim Arrest for Alleged Blockade Plans

The detention of Lazar Mišić, a student at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Agriculture, at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport has ignited a familiar battle between independent media and state-aligned outlets. While Mišić's family confirmed his detention to N1, pro-government tabloids immediately framed the incident as an arrest linked to alleged plans for disrupting critical infrastructure, specifically blocking highways and the TENT power plant.

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Student of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Belgrade Lazar Mišić was detained at the Belgrade airport "Nikola Tesla", confirmed N1 members of his family.

State broadcaster RTS amplified these claims, reporting that Mišić was detained for up to 48 hours on suspicion of inciting violent change to the constitutional order and attacking an official. This narrative, pushed by media loyal to the current regime, seeks to paint Mišić and the ongoing student protests as threats to national security and stability.

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Pro-government media, on the other hand, write that he was arrested 'on suspicion of planning to block the highway and the Nikola Tesla Thermal Power Plant (TENT) in Obrenovac'.

However, the students themselves, who have been actively protesting, offer a starkly different account. They assert that Mišić was merely stopped at passport control and have issued a public statement, shared on social media, warning the police to act carefully as they are under close observation. This discrepancy highlights the deep division in Serbia's media landscape, where state-controlled outlets often preemptively shape public opinion, while independent voices strive to present a more factual, albeit often suppressed, reality. N1's reporting aims to cut through this propaganda, providing a platform for the students' perspective and questioning the official narrative surrounding Mišić's detention.

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The police arrested Mišić at the airport, on suspicion that he planned to block the highway for a protest that was supposed to take place in March this year, as well as the blockade of TENT in Obrenovac, in order to prevent the supply of coal and electricity to the citizens of Serbia.