WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE: TV E – AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
The European Union strongly supports the right to freedom of expression and assembly, and emphasizes the importance of a well-functioning civil society, the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro announced to Portal ETV.
These are, as they said, key elements of a democratic system that state institutions should support.
– Respect for these principles is important for Montenegro's European path. We expect the authorities to encourage an environment that promotes freedom of expression, in which different groups can freely express their opinions in a non-violent manner – the Delegation of the European Union said.
On January 1, the second mass crime in less than two and a half years took place in the Montenegrin Royal Capital, when Aco Martinović killed 13 people, including two boys, two brothers. Six hours later, he committed suicide.
The police response to this crisis was, from the point of view of both security experts and a large part of the Montenegrin public, extremely inadequate, which is why the informal student group "Kamo śutra" organized protests in Cetinje and Podgorica. One of their demands is that the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the security sector, Aleksa Bečić, and the Minister of Interior, Danilo Šaranović, resign.
This enraged the party headed by Bečić - the Democrats, which for days has been trying to criminalize the students through public statements, claiming that the former president of the country, Milo Đukanović, "along with his criminal clans", is behind their demands.
They "dropped the ball" a bit after the reaction of the United States Embassy, which strongly supported the right to peaceful, non-violent assembly and freedom of expression as fundamental values of a democratic society, saying that citizens should not suffer the consequences for this.
Thus, the Democrats softened the narrative and convinced the public that they never stated that all the gathered people were “Bemaks supporters, Kavčani supporters or supporters of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS)”.
In the meantime, support for the students from the organization “Kamo śutra” and their demands, in addition to numerous non-governmental organizations, was also provided by more than a hundred professors from Montenegrin universities and about 200 artists and cultural workers in Montenegro.
They believe that it is the ultimate moment for us all to worry about the safety of citizens in Montenegro and to hold accountable the leaders of state institutions whose responsibility is the safety and security of citizens. They also called on the ruling parties to stop inappropriately targeting students, the aim of which, as they pointed out, is to intimidate them and restrict their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech and assembly.
The first protest in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was attended by several thousand people. The new one is scheduled for January 16 at 7:30 PM at the same place in Podgorica, after which the gathered citizens will peacefully walk to the Government building and once again call state officials from the security sector to account.
Also, the Assembly of the Royal Capital of Cetinje today, at the request of Mayor Nikola Đurašković, held an extraordinary session and adopted conclusions regarding the tragic events in that city, including the replacement of the entire security sector leadership, the implementation of an independent international investigation, the transformation of the Security Department into the Cetinje Security Center...
The announced counter-protest ahead of today's session of the local parliament of the so-called student organization "UM", at which Đurašković was supposed to be held accountable, did not take place.
