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Serbia

People’s Patrol

The People’s Patrol is a far-right anti-immigrant organization established in February 2020. It is centered in Belgrade, although it also has branches in border towns such as Subotica, Sombor, Bačka Palanka, and Šid. Its members occasionally stop migrants from entering into Serbia in border towns.They had also disturbed journalists at their protests.Their members had been involved in several incidents.Also they organized multiple anti-immigrant protests starting in March 2020. The participants had also showed anti-vaccination sentiment.

People’s Patrol alongside Leviathan, the organization had portrayed migrants as “rapists” and called for people that helped migrants to be lynched. The People’s Patrol had used the lack of trust in institutions as a reason and justification to patrol and arrest migrants, and it had also publicly criticized the police. Its leader, Damnjan Knežević, was summoned several times by the police and arrested on few occasions for inciting hatred and intolerance. Knežević was a vice- president of the The Serbian Party Oathkeepers. Besides their anti-immigrant activity, People’s Patrol members had also launched an initiative regarding Kosovo. The organization had promoted anti feminism and misogyny. Following the 2022. Russian invasion of Ukraine, People’s Patrol had staged several pro-Russian protests in March and April 2022. People’s Patrol has connections with far-right groups in Russia that took part in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.They openly supported the Rusich organization, and at the beginning of 2023, the far-right mercenary group Wagner. People’s patrols painted murals with the symbol of this far-right paramilitary organization In January 2023, Knežević was accused of being a member of the Wagner Group and recruiting Serbian citizens to fight in Ukraine.