In Montenegro in clashes with protesters injured several police officers. The riots were triggered by the detention by the authorities of the Orthodox Bishop of Ioaniky.
police Directorate of Montenegro reports that in the city of Pljevlja, the gathered citizens were throwing at the police stones, glass bottles and fireworks, resulting in four police officers were injured.
for its part, the police used force to disperse participants of the protest action, using tear gas and stun grenades.
the rector of the Cetinje school of theology Gojko Perovic accused the authorities of using excessive force: “We call for an end to violence against peaceful and non-violent protests. It is clear that injustice has exceeded all measure”.
out on the street citizens demanded the release of detained in the night of Wednesday, Bishop Budimljansko-Niksicko of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Ioaniky.
“let go of the Bishop, dog,” screamed the crowd gathered at the police Department of Niksic.
the Bishop and seven priests were arrested by the police “because of the meeting of citizens in the organization of SPC in Niksic, in violation of an order prohibiting meetings.”
the Reason for the detention for 72 hours the Bishop of Ioaniky was observed on the days of the revered holiday in Montenegro, St. Basil of Ostrog. Because of the pandemic, the entrances to the Ostrog monastery, where usually on a holiday gathered many tens of thousands veruschih, was blocked by the police. A crowded meeting in connection with the coronavirus in Montenegro are also prohibited.
Believers, nevertheless, gathered for worship in the monastery near nikšić. Several thousand people went there in procession, and social distance was not observed, according to reports.
the national coordinating Council on infectious diseases under the government of Montenegro has called on the Prosecutor to respond immediately to the holding of the Serbian Orthodox Church the Assembly of believers on the occasion.
Earlier, Montenegro had already been fined for the clergy, accused of breaking and epidemiological standards. So, on April 12, after the Liturgy at the monastery of Zlatica police arrested the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the littoral Amfilohije, and with him a number of priests and faithful.
From the formal point of view the actions of the police justified the country introduced restrictive measures due to the coronavirus. Power since may 11, allowed to hold Church services when finding one person to 10 square metres of the temple inside and 20 outside.
However, if you look at the root, it seems a logical point of view of the Montenegrin-coastal Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), according to whichth arrest under the auspices of the fight against the spread of coronavirus, a high-ranking priests and ordinary priests fit into the actions of the Montenegrin authorities towards the canonical Orthodox Church.
Conflict brewing for a long time, even before the start of a global pandemic, the Montenegrin Parliament adopted at the end of December last year, the law on freedom of religion, which in the Serbian Orthodox Church was perceived as an act of legitimating the oppression of the SPC in Montenegro. The law, in particular, gives a green light to the withdrawal of the Serbian Orthodox Church Church property, including the Ostrog monastery.
signed the law the President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic, accusing the Serbian Orthodox Church in an attempt to maintain a religious monopoly in the country, promised that Ukraine will seek for the autocephaly of the Montenegrin Church.
