Who are the far-right extremists marching through Serbia: SNS keeps them on a short leash, and on the security services budget

Whether on the fringes or in the political mainstream itself, a certain number of far-right extremist organizations have always been present in Serbia. These groups have sometimes more, sometimes less successfully canceled various events they disagreed with, intimidated vulnerable groups, clashed with the authorities, and sometimes even worked for them.

Thus, one of them, Narodna patrola (People’s Patrol), scheduled a protest against “population replacement” for Friday, October 24. The leader of the People’s Patrols, Damnjan Knežević, was arrested on suspicion of racial discrimination, as reported by RTS, because he said in an interview that he would confront migrants and people residing in tents in front of the Assembly on Friday.

On the other hand, the Zrenjanin Social Forum held a counter-gathering at Slavija Square near the monument to Dimitrije Tucović, sending a message of solidarity to migrants.

Although the People’s Patrols are best known for organizing anti-migrant gatherings, they are not the only far-right extremist organization that manages to survive despite, to say the least, questionable views and an ideology that, explicitly or not, includes racism and discrimination against other vulnerable groups and members of other nationalities.

Among the most publicly known movements of this type are Levijatan (Leviathan) and Srpska desnica (Serbian Right), whose representatives Pavle Bihali and Miša Vacić, together with Goran Davidović Firer, the former leader of the banned organization Nacionalni stroj (National Alignment), united and earlier this year formed the Party of Serbian Nationalists.

Although Nacionalni stroj was banned in 2011, and Davidović was convicted seven years later for inciting religious, racial, and national hatred, that conviction was overturned in 2020, and Davidović returned to Serbia unhindered and announced political activity.

On the other hand, Srpska desnica and Levijatan have often been followed by public allegations of cooperating with the SNS regime, and Vacić himself was employed in the Office for Kosovo. As he himself said, he met Vučić “when he was putting up ‘Ratko Mladić Boulevard’ posters, thereby protecting the arrested guys who were doing it before him.”

Leviathan has also been linked to the authorities. As former member of the movement Boris Knežević told the Nova newspaper, Bihali boasted of “a good relationship with Nebojša Stefanović, now Vulin, and the entire Criminal Police Directorate (UKP).”

As Knežević explained, Bihali said, when Aleksandar Vulin became Minister of Police, that he was “his man.”

Narodna patrola, which organized the anti-migrant gathering, has rarely been linked to the authorities, and Damnjan Knežević himself always emphasized that he was fighting against the Vučić regime. However, although they often attended anti-government gatherings, there were frequent incidents in which they clashed with the protestors.

Hajrić: Far-right extremist movements as “one of the arms of the SNS”

Sociologist Dario Hajrić tells Danas that far-right extremist movements survive today because they function, to a greater or lesser extent, as one of the many arms of the SNS intended for street actions that often cross the line of law, i.e., violence, intimidation of individuals and organizations, and creating an atmosphere of fear in the public.

“Authoritarian regimes use fear as a tool – when a person is afraid, they need protection, and that is mostly advertised by the regime’s tough guys. Currently, we have alleged threats directed at Ćaciland (the makeshift camp) coming from one of these organizations, because its members apparently suddenly – after more than seven months – discovered that a paramilitary regime camp exists in the city center,” he says.

He figuratively describes the arrest with a paraphrase of a sentence from the early nineties: “They pretend they want to protest, and we pretend we don’t let them.”

Speaking about the frequent appearance of far-right extremists in pro-regime media, Hajrić says that the “alliance” between the government and the far-right should not be made an ideological issue.

“These groups are held on a short leash, and certainly on the budget, of the security services. Based on last month’s neo-Nazi rally in St. Petersburg, we can assume – not only our own services,” he adds.

However, it should be noted that according to their views, parties that are or have been part of the parliament and the government can also be classified into the far-right, if not the extreme right, such as the Serbian Radical Party and the Zavetnici movement, where Knežević began his political career.

When asked what function these political options have in the exercise of power, Hajrić emphasizes that the “extreme right” in Serbian politics boils down to SNS satellites, adding that their extremism often lags behind what the regime itself says and does.

“Their role is manifold. First and foremost, they are there to make SNS look like a center party, a moderate option that defends both us and Europe from uncontrolled violence. Of course, after a year of naprednjaci (SNS members) driving cars into people and breaking heads, it’s already frivolous to talk about that,” claims Danas’s interlocutor.

On the other hand, Hajrić believes, the other role of these parties is to gather a part of the voters who have become repellent to the SNS, and to return them to Vučić after the elections.

“We have seen this multiple times, through Šapić’s SPAS, the collaboration of POKS, the ministring of Zavetnici, and we will see it again if citizens do not learn to recognize SNS satellites when they see them,” he concludes.

Obraz, then Srpski zbor

It should be recalled that one of the stronger far-right extremist organizations in Serbia was the Patriotic Movement “Obraz”, which often organized demonstrations against various manifestations whose ideological content they disagreed with. Thus, in 2009, along with other right-wing groups, they influenced the cancellation of that year’s gay pride parade due to the high risk of escalating violence. However, in 2012, this movement was banned for violating human and minority rights and inciting national and religious hatred.

Today, the former leader of Obraz, Mladen Obradović, is part of “Srpski zbor” (Serbian Assembly), which was presented to the public this month by Obradović, Dejan Mirović, a professor at the University in North Mitrovica, and Ratko Ristić, a professor at the Faculty of Forestry and a Belgrade councilor from the list “MI snaga naroda.”