Montenegro: demonstrators oppose the enthronement of the head of the Serbian Church

Published on : 09/05/2021 – 10:34

Protesters demand that the ceremony be held elsewhere. Montenegro police dispersed hundreds of people on Sunday morning (September 5) who were trying to prevent the enthronement in the historic town of Cetinje of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), state television reported (RTCG ).

The special police forces repeatedly fired tear gas at demonstrators gathered in the central square of the small town in the south of the Balkan country, which has been gripped by strong identity tensions for several days.

The announcement of the holding on Sunday of the enthronement ceremony of Bishop Joanikije in the monastery of Cetinje, the former royal city in the south of the country, has provoked great tensions in Montenegro in recent days, where the power shifted at the end of 2020 in the hands of a government considered close to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

According to images broadcast on the site of the daily Vijesti, Bishop Joanikije, as well as the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, arrived in front of the monastery by helicopter, surrounded by members of police commandos.

An angry symbol

Several thousand Montenegrins, who demand that the ceremony be organized elsewhere than in this monastery which they see as a symbol of national identity, have blocked the access roads to the city with barricades.

Opponents are supported by the DPS, the party of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic who lost power in the 2020 legislative elections.

Protesters spent the night on barricades around lit fires to warm up, an AFP correspondent reported. “I am here to show my love for the country. We are not asking for anything from anyone else, but we are denied by the occupying Serbian Church. We are defending our dignity here,” said Saska Brajovic, an official from 50 years.

“It is a peaceful demonstration, it is love for the country. Serbian politics, with its followers in Montenegro, denies us, and we want to show that we exist and that we want to be respected,” said Marija, a 57-year-old nurse.

A divided country

Montenegro became independent from Serbia in 2006 after almost 90 years of living together but maintains complex relations with the neighboring country.

A third of the 620,000 inhabitants identify as Serbs and some nationalists deny Montenegro a separate identity. The SPC is the dominant religion in the small country, but its opponents accuse it of serving Belgrade’s interests.

With AFP