The Montenegrin Interior Ministry has been tipped about extremist groups plotting to radicalize the situation in Cetinje, where the enthronement of a Serbian Orthodox Church metropolitan is scheduled for September 5 amid outrage by Montenegrin patriots and opposition forces.
This was announced by Interior Minister Sergei Sekulovic who had a working breakfast with journalists. He noted he could not guarantee absolute safety for journalists and other citizens in Cetinje, but he would do everything possible to ensure that the rally passed peacefully, the Balkan Observer reports.
“Thanks to our undercover efforts, we’ve learned there are extremists on both sides and that they are plotting radicalization,” Sekulovic said. “We will do our best to ensure safety, but we cannot guarantee it 100%,” he said.
The minister added that the security assessment is updated every hour and is now deemed unfavorable.
Interior Ministry State Secretary Zoran Miljanic said the police in Cetinje would guarantee safety of all citizens, regardless of which church or party they are affiliated with, adding that all politicians coming to Cetinje on Sep 5 without an invitation would bear a special kind of responsibility.
Asked whether safety could be guaranteed on the day of the Metropolitan’s enthronement on September 5, Police Director Zoran Brdjanin said: “This is not a war, this is not a state of emergency, we guarantee people security in the current objective circumstances,” adding: “We can guarantee that we do our job.” According to him, the media should also be asked the same question, as major public unrest is caused by specific coverage of events, not the events as such, he believes.
“Peace is what I call for… I ask people to be restrained and not to create tension where there is none,” Brdjanin said.
Asked whether the enthronement of Metropolitan Joanikij in Cetinje could be banned, the interior minister said that everyone enjoyed their own authority. “Our personal convictions do not matter, it is our duty to guarantee freedom of religion,” Sekulovic said. He noted that the bans could indeed be a short-term solution, but it would still be about suppressing freedoms.
“Montenegro was created in Cetinje, we must not allow today’s Montenegro to die in Cetinje. We must learn to live with our differences and we must launch a democratic debate,” Sekulovic said.
