Dramatic images from Montenegro: Fierce clashes, arrests and large number of injured

Dramatic images from Montenegro: Fierce clashes, arrests and large number of injured

The enthronement of the Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Joanikije, yesterday and today was followed by riots in Cetinje and clashes with the police.

Some of the citizens of Montenegro consider it an insult and provocation for the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be enthroned in the monastery where, according to tradition, the relics of St. Peter of Cetinje, a saint from the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, rest.

Montenegrin nationalists have been protesting for days, demanding that the enthronement doesn't take place in the Cetinje Monastery, but in another Montenegrin city. They saw it as a continuation of promoting Serbia's interests and spreading the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.

The day before the enthronement, the opponents blocked all roads to Cetinje, especially the one leading from the capital Podgorica, so that the highest representatives of the Serbian church could not reach the Cetinje monastery.

The enthronement of Joanikije was still held in the Cetinje monastery, but with heavy security measures, police escort and without the presence of a large number of priests and believers of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The morning before this religious ceremony, clashes broke out between the police and the demonstrators in Cetinje and around the Montenegrin capital.

Protesters fired Molotov cocktails, oysters, glass bottles, firecrackers at police, and police responded with tear gas. After two days of clashes between the police and the demonstrators who were against the enthronement of Metropolitan Joanikije, the ambulance in Cetinje reported the exact number of injured.

Namely, a total of 60 people were injured. 30 civilians asked for help, and after the examination they were released for home treatment.

Thirty members of the Ministry of the Interior were also examined, four of whom were transported to the General Hospital. The highest representatives of the Montenegrin government, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic and Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, announced that one of the closest associates of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic had been arrested.

Advisor to the President of Montenegro, Veselin Veljović, was taken to the police from Cetinje. The Council for Civil Control of Police Work announced today that the delegation of the Council visited the Security Department of Cetinje and visited all detained persons during today's interventions.

The delegation of the Council talked "confidentially and directly" with all 14 detained persons, including Veselin Veljović, advisor to the President of Montenegro, the CDM portal reports.

It is stated that none of the detained persons had any objections to the actions of the police and procedural actions towards them, as well as regarding the treatment in the official premises of the police. After the enthronement, the newly enthroned Metropolitan Joanikije and the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije headed by helicopter to the Podgorica Cathedral of Christ's Resurrection.

While the patriarch and the metropolitan were leaving the monastery, a helicopter flew over the Cetinje monastery and monitored the situation on the ground. The newly enthroned metropolitan thanked for the congratulations and referred to the events in Cetinje. He said that it was not nice that messages could be heard that someone was not welcome there, but he was satisfied that they did not retaliate with hatred but with prayer.

In front of the temple, they were welcomed by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, Ministers Jakov Milatović and Milojko Spajić and representatives of certain political parties. President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, assessed that the riots in Montenegro were artificially created, that is, that they did not arise from real hatred.

"I would not say that it is genuine hatred, but it's induced by politicians in Montenegro," said Vučić. "All the credit for the security belongs to the government of Montenegro. The Serbian secret police only collects information, and then submits it to the competent authorities." The police do not want to react immediately, that is normal, he explained. Only when you have to use force.

Vučić congratulated Metropolitan Joanikije being hosted in the morning program of TV Prva. The situation in Montenegro is currently calm, and the ceremonial lunch in honor of the enthronement of Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Joanikije ended just before 4 pm in Podgorica, which marked the end of a two-day visit of Patriarch Porfirije to Montenegro.