Twenty-six police officers of Montenegro were injured, one of them hospitalized as a result of clashes on Wednesday in the towns of Niksic and Pljevlja, dozens of people were detained, said on Thursday the police Department.
Yesterday in several cities of the country held spontaneous protests over the detention for 72 hours the Bishop Budimljansko-Niksicko the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) of Ioanniky and seven priests for the holding of a meeting of believers on Tuesday on the feast of St. Basil of Ostrog. The largest performances was recorded in Niksic and Pljevlja, where the police to disperse the crowd used tear gas and stun grenades damaged several citizens, including minors.
Police claim that "the gathered people for no reason brutally attacked the staff …, showering them with stones, bottles, fireworks and other items".
In Niksic were detained 32 people, 20 of them filed the case on administrative offences. In Plevlya police detained 9 people, one of them placed under arrest for assaulting a police officer, and five imputed administrative offense.
Protests on a smaller scale were also held in the capital Podgorica, where three people were detained for blocking highway "Berane – Andrijevica" arrested 12 persons, five of them arrested in Andrijevica for the attack on the police in Herceg-Novi detained one person. In Budva for participation in the organized passage of the cars were summoned to the police 25 people, 14 of them received fines for violations of the law on road traffic safety.
The President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and head of the Serbian Church, Patriarch Irinej, in a joint statement earlier expressed concern about the detention in Montenegro of the Bishop and priests of the SOC. The Serbian Church also called on the Montenegrin authorities to stop using force against civilians.
