Ex-Montenegrin Interior Minister Sees Coup Attempt In Anti-Serbian Church Protests
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published September 06, 2021 | 11:52 PM
Weekend protests in Montenegro against the enthronement of the head of the Serbian Orthodox church in the country, with Veselin Veljovic, a former police chief and current presidential adviser, involved in ensuing clashes with police, should be investigated as a possible coup attempt, ex-Interior Minister Goran Danilovic told Sputnik
BELGRADE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2021) Weekend protests in Montenegro against the enthronement of the head of the Serbian Orthodox church in the country, with Veselin Veljovic, a former police chief and current presidential adviser, involved in ensuing clashes with police, should be investigated as a possible coup attempt, ex-Interior Minister Goran Danilovic told Sputnik.
Over the weekend, the old Montenegrin capital of Cetinje was rocked by protests against the inauguration of Joanikije, the new metropolitan of the Montenegro and the Littoral diocese, a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church, leading to clashes with the police. Among the detained protesters was Veljovic, defense and security adviser to the president of Montenegro, who is suspected of assaulting an officer on duty.
Montenegro's prime minister Zdravko Krivokapic on Sunday called the attacks on the police an attempted terrorist act. The mastermind, he said, is the leadership of the Democratic Party of Socialists of President Milo Dukanovic.
"Whether a coup was being plotted, whether the actions were synchronized with the people in state agencies and ministries, we will know when we get the information. The person who has recently been a police chief, and now is an adviser to the president, tried to command police officers. It will not be an exaggeration to speak of a coup plot, but it is needed to figure out if he had the support of the one to whom it serves as an adviser and assistance of those who could have provided him with the means for that," Danilovic stated.
The leader of the United Montenegro party added that exclusive security measures had been taken during the cleric's enthronement, which may indicate that there was information about a significant threat.
Twenty policemen were injured at the protests in Cetinje, and eight people were detained. Four protesters were reported to have sustained injuries. The police fired tear gas into the crowd of protesters.
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