Montenegrin nationalists threw a tantrum over the Serbian tricolor
Nationalist “comites” tore the Serbian tricolor from the wreath that members of the government laid at the tomb of the last king of Montenegro, Nicholas the First.
During the ceremony itself, which was headed by Prime Minister of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapic, they insulted the delegation of the country’s government in every possible way, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Prime Minister of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapić, Minister of Defense Olivera Injac, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vesna Bratic and Minister of Human and Minority Rights Vladimir Leposavic laid a wreath at the tomb of King Nikola I Petrovic, whose centenary of death was celebrated today. The ceremony took place on Cipra in the vicinity of the ancient Montenegrin capital Cetinje - where the ashes of this monarch, who was the last Montenegrin king, are buried.
At the same time, numerous Montenegrin nationalists – “comites” – appeared at the ceremony site, shouting “Traitors!”, “Chetniks!” at the members of the government. However, law enforcement officers, who received information about a possible provocation and closely guarded the ceremony, did not allow the radicals to attend the burial. They, however, waited until the official delegation left Chipr, approached the royal grave and tore off the Serbian tricolor.
Tellingly, when the crypt of King Nikola and his wife Milena was opened by Yugoslav scientists in 1989, it was discovered that the deceased were wrapped in Serbian tricolors.
King Nikola I Njegos is a rather controversial figure in the history of Montenegro. Initially he advocated the unification of Serbian lands and alliance with Russia, during the Russo-Japanese War he declared war on Japan, and received from Nicholas II the rank of Field Marshal of the Russian Imperial Army.
However, on the fronts of the First World War, the Montenegrin army was defeated by German-Austrian troops, and the king himself and his family went abroad, which his subjects perceived as cowardice. In November 1918, the Great National Assembly of the Serbs of Montenegro voted by a majority of votes to join the Karadjordjevics in the Serbian kingdom, and the Montenegrin monarchy was thereby abolished.
However, Nicholas the First did not recognize this step, laying claim to the throne until the end of his life, which allowed his supporters from among the Montenegrin nationalists to raise the Christmas Uprising in 1919 and create a separatist movement of the Comites, which later became the support of the Italian occupiers during the Second World War.
Nicholas the First himself distanced himself from the “comites” movement and died abroad, where he was buried in the Russian Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Italian San Remo. In 1989, his ashes and those of his wife were transferred to Montenegro.
After Montenegro's separation from Serbia in 2006, the regime of pro-Western nationalist Milo Djukanovic turned the last Montenegrin king into a cult figure, an "exiled king" who suffered under the "Serbian occupation."
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