Incidents as thousands protest in Montenegro

Incidents as thousands protest in Montenegro

The demonstrators threw rocks at the police near the Assembly building, while the media reported that tear gas was thrown into the mass.

RTS said that the headquarters of the ruling DPS party were stoned, and that police cordons were deployed in the streets.

Those who gathered chanted, "He is finished," and referred to the police as "dogs," and then threw rocks, spray tear gas and flares at a police cordon that did not react.

The stewards of the Democratic Front (DF) tried to calm the demonstrators down and prevent them from approaching the police. The rocks they threw also injured some of the demonstrators.

Those gathered set an ultimatum for a transitional government to be formed by Saturday.

One of the DF leaders, Andrija Mandic, called on the protesters to walk to the Interior Ministry building, in order to peacefully express their dissatisfaction with the reaction of the police the day before, when they disrupted the DF protest in front of the parliament building that had been ongoing for 21 days.

RTCG said police were deployed around government buildings but were "not as visible as the previous night," and that the protesters were shouting "He is finished," and "Milo thief," and calling the police "dogs," "killers," and "Ustashas."

The situation was tense in front of the MUP building, when the police prevented opposition supporters from jumping over a protective fence. Mandic said that unless the ultimatum to form a transitional government was met, "the whole Montenegro would gather in a protest in Podgorica on Saturday."

He added that Djukanovic had "left the country on a plane around 18:30 hours" and asked the participants in the protest to be calm and act in a dignified manner.

The police said that the DF organized another protest last night "when the police intervened because the gathered citizens broke several shop windows, threw rocks, tear gas and bottles, after which the police in line with the law used tear gas and rubber bullets."

They previously removed a stage and tents from the St. Petar Cetinjski Boulevard in front of parliament and ended the protest. The police said they intervened against demonstrators of the opposition Democratic Front because they tried to break through a police cordon and force their way into the parliament building.

Meanwhile, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic expressed concern about the arrests of two journalists covering public protests in Podgorica and urged for "swift and transparent investigations of the cases."

Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic called for respect of constitutional and public order and peace, and for political issues to be solved in state institutions.