Clashes between Orthodox Christians and police began in Montenegro - gas and grenades were used

Protesting against the arrest of Bishop Ioannikis of Budimljan-Niksic and Orthodox priests, Orthodox residents of Berane and Andrijevica blocked the highway, but were dispersed by the police.

Balkan media reported this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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Outraged this morning arrest bishop and priests, because of the service in honor of St. Basil of Ostrog, revered by the Orthodox Serbs of Montenegro, believers blocked the Berane - Andrijevica - Plav highway in the area of ​​the former Soko Stark factory building. However, by 14:00, police units arrived at this place and, using tear gas, dispersed the protesters, three of them were arrested. Their comrades-in-arms pulled up to the police station where the detainees were taken, demanding the release of Orthodox activists; according to eyewitnesses, the convoy of support group cars stretched for a kilometer.

The Episcopal Council of the Montenegrin-Primorsky Metropolis of the Serbian Orthodox Church was urgently convened, which demanded the immediate release of Bishop Ioannikios and seven priests arrested at the request of the Prosecutor's Office for 72 hours.

“The clergy, by agreement with Metropolitan Amphilochius and Bishop Ioannikiy, decided that due to quarantine restrictions, only a prayer service would be held in the church without a procession, meanwhile, due to the people who had gathered in large numbers near the church and on the street, the matter spontaneously moved to to the traditional course, to which - neither before God nor before people - there was an alternative, says the appeal of the Episcopal Council. – The actions of government bodies threaten the rights of the Church, so it is not the culprit, but the victim.

The rights of the Church are threatened not by orders and health measures, which the Church certainly respects, but by their selective application... The Bishops' Council...warns and calls on all political leaders to refrain from any partisan and political abuse of the Church."

Having heard the call of the church, one of the leaders of the opposition Democratic Front and the head of the New Serbian Democracy party, Andrija Mandich, said in the Montenegrin Assembly that, together with his comrades-in-arms, they planned to call on their supporters to take active action against the authorities and call on the entire Orthodox world to boycott Montenegro, but after the Bishop’s appeal The Council decided to abandon such actions for now. At the same time, it became known that criminal cases were opened against Mandić himself, as well as his comrades in the Democratic Front, on suspicion that they called on believers to take part in festive church services.

Also, as it became known, the appeals of the SOC lawyers regarding the arrest and detention of the bishop and priests were rejected, and they remain behind bars.

By evening, the situation had escalated to the limit, and in Niksic, Beran, and Pljevlja, believers nevertheless took to the streets, demanding the release of the priests. And in some places this resulted in local scuffles with the police, during which law enforcement officers used tear gas and stun grenades, resulting in casualties, including minors. In response, Orthodox Christians chant “Ustasha!” towards the police. and waving Serbian tricolors.