BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th August, 2020) Montenegrin police have received information that individual citizens and groups were preparing to stage riots against a controversial law on religion on August 30, when parliamentary elections are held in the country, the Montenegrin police chief, Veselin Veljovic, said on Wednesday.
On Sunday evening, hundreds of people across the country took to the streets protesting against the disputed law that calls for turning the estates of religious sites into public property if they are unable to prove their right to ownership before 1918. Demonstrators and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) say that the law is an attempt to seize property that will be then transferred to the self-proclaimed Montenegrin Orthodox Church.
"We have information that certain individuals, acting through social media and other channels, are urging citizens to take to the streets during the vote and after the closure of polling stations, provoke incidents, disrupt peace and public order ... The police will act decisively and responsibly," Veljovic said.
The Montenegrin authorities have previously opened several criminal cases over violation of the ban on mass gatherings introduced due to COVID-19. The list of those prosecuted includes pro-Serb opposition figure Zdravko Krivokapic, who leads the For the Future of Montenegro alliance, five priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church and a number of other citizens after protests held overnight into Monday.
Last December, the Montenegrin parliament adopted a law on nationalizing property of religious entities should they fail to prove the right to ownership before 1918, the year when Montenegro ceased being independent. The Serbian Orthodox Church, which is followed by the overwhelming majority of Montenegro's predominantly Orthodox Christian population, claimed that Podgorica pursued to seize its assets, such as ancient monasteries and temples, and give them to the noncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church � all to weaken the SPC's influence in the country.
In early August, the largest opposition parties of Montenegro formed a coalition around the Democratic Front party in order to take part in the elections as a single bloc. In the current convocation of the Montenegrin parliament, the Democratic Front is the largest opposition force and occupies 18 out of 81 mandates.
