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Montenegro Religious Protesters Step Up Rallies Ahead of Polls

August 24, 202013:04
Hundreds of people staged the biggest protest so far against a controversial law on religion and the pro-Serb opposition announced that the demonstrations will continue across Montenegro until elections at the weekend.
Serbian Orthodox Church supporters rally in Podgorica. Photo: Facebook/Milos Vujovic

Hundreds of people took to the streets of towns across Montenegro on Sunday evening to protest against the controversial law on religion after leading Serbian Orthodox bishop Amfilohije Radovic urged people to vote “for the saints and against the lawless” at the upcoming parliamentary elections on August 30.

Bishop Amfilohije, 82, said he will be voting for the first time in his life because Sunday’s elections are important for the Serbian Orthodox Church’s branch in Montenegro.

“That is why we need to go to these elections – to vote against those who rule with false laws,” he said.

“The church does not have its own party or its own electoral list. I’m calling on citizens not to sell their souls, votes and ID cards out of fear or in anyone else’s interest,” he added.

The pro-Serb opposition announced that the protests will continue throughout the week, calling on the public to join a protest march in the town of Pljevlja on Monday evening.

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic accused the Serbian Orthodox Church of running a political campaign.

Djukanovic told a ruling Democratic Party of Socialists gathering on Monday that the Serbian Orthodox Church is against the European Union and NATO.

“These elections are most important in the history of Montenegro because we must choose whether Montenegro should continue its EU integration or become a theocratic state,” he said.

The opposition For the Future of Montenegro alliance and Orthodox church supporters organized several protests walks on Sunday in the capital Podgorica and the towns of Berane, Pljevlja, Niksic and Bijelo Polje.

For the Future of Montenegro is a pro-Serb opposition coalition led by university professor Zdravko Krivokapic, and includes the main opposition Democratic Front, the Socialist People’s Party, plus various activists and prominent businessmen Miodrag ‘Daka’ Davidovic’s People’s Movement.

Montenegrin police blocked approach roads to Podgorica on Sunday, forbidding protesters to enter and gather in the capital.

Police also blocked the Budosh tunnel near the city of Niksic, preventing protesters from heading for Podgorica.

However, after tense negotiations, police finally let opposition supporters enter the capital.

“The authorities tried to prevent protest rides and street protests happening again… It is a direct threat to freedom of movement and freedom of religion,” Krivokapic said in front of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica.

On Sunday, an official from the Democratic Party of Socialists, Caslav Vesovic, accused the Orthodox Church of supporting Krivokapic’s pro-Serb opposition alliance. He said that Krivokapic has been visiting churches and monasteries in Montenegro during his electoral campaign.

“The Serbian Orthodox Church is not a religious but a para-political organisation. The church is interfering in the electoral process as it told believers how to vote,” Vesovic told Montenegrin media.

But Bishop Amfilohije insisted that the church had nothing with the protest car rides.

Because of the coronavirus epidemic, open-air religious gatherings have been prohibited since the end of June unless they take place on church premises. Public open-air gatherings are also limited to a maximum of 100 attendees. For indoor events, the maximum is 50 people.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, the largest faith group in Montenegro, resumed its street protests against the controversial law on religion on June 14.

Since parliament passed the law in December, tens of thousands of Serbian Orthodox priests, believers, and supporters have been protesting across the country, demanding its withdrawal.

The Serbian Orthodox Church – whose relations with the Montenegrin government are poor – claims the law would allow the state to rob it of its property.

The disputed law calls for the creation of a register of all religious buildings and sites that authorities say were owned by the independent kingdom of Montenegro before it became part of the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, later renamed Yugoslavia.

Samir Kajosevic