Montenegro police used teargas against rock-throwing protesters during the enthronement of a Serbian Orthodox Church cleric yesterday as the nation’s religious leader, with dozens reported injured.
The enthronement of Joanikije II at a monastery in the town of Cetinje has stirred divisions within Montenegro over ties with neighbouring Serbia.
The new head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro arrived by helicopter under the protection of police.
According to images released by the church, Joanikije and Patriarch Porfirije were dropped off by helicopter on the monastery’s lawn and rushed in under the sound of bells.
A security perimeter had been set up by police around the 15th century building to protect the brief enthronement ceremony.
During the ceremony, Joanikije vowed to “serve the brotherly reconciliation” of Montenegro, saying that “the divisions have been provoked artificially”.
Montenegro left its union with Serbia in 2006, but its church remained under the Serbian church.
A third of Montenegro’s 620,000 inhabitants identify as Serbs and some deny that Montenegro should be a separate entity.
Police used gas to disperse hundreds of protesters, some of whom threw rocks, bottles and firecrackers as church figures arrived by helicopter.
Some people burned tyres and sat on roads.
Protesters had blocked roads since Saturday in a bid to prevent access to the small town, both the headquarters of the Serbian Orthodox Church and a symbol of sovereignty for some Montenegrins.
“I am here to show my love for the country,” said one protester, Saska Brajovic, 50. “We are not asking for anything from anyone else, but we are dismissed by the occupying Serbian church. We are here defending our dignity.”
Montenegro’s deputy police director Dragan Gorovic told state TV that 20 officers were injured, while a state clinic in Cetinje said around 30 civilians sought help for injuries.
Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic described attacks on the police as terrorism.
He blamed President Milo Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists, which ruled for three decades before losing elections last year, for organising protests.
Djukanovic, who opposes the enthronement, accused police of excessive force.
The embassies of Germany, Italy, France, Britain, the United States and the European Union condemned violence around the enthronement of Joanikije II, who is known as the Metropolitan of Montenegro and Archbishop of Cetinje.