Sun 06 September 2020:
Following Sunday’s shock victory which resulted in the long-serving president, Milo Djukanovic losing his grip on power after 30 years, the country’s Muslim population is experiencing a backlash, according to local accounts.
In the town of Pljevlja, a few kilometres from the Serb border, members of the opposition celebrating the victory used the opportunity to vandalise Islamic premises and attack Muslim residents, a local news outlet reported.
The intense election campaign pitted President Milo Djukanovic’s pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) against the right-wing “For the Future of Montenegro” (ZBCG) bloc, comprised mainly of Serb nationalist parties that seek closer ties with Belgrade and Moscow.
ZBCG, combined with two other opposition alliances, achieved a razor-thin majority grabbing 41 out of 81 seats in parliament, bringing the DPS rule to an end after leading the NATO-member country for 30 years.
The campaign largely focused on a dispute over a law on religious rights introduced in late 2019, staunchly opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).
The SPC argued the law allows the state to confiscate its property in order to set up a separate church, sparking protests over the last 10 months supported by the opposition. The government has denied the allegation.
Attacks and provocations against Bosniaks began as soon as exit poll results were released last Sunday and opposition supporters began celebrating on the streets.
A Muslim resident of the town, which has a sizeable Muslim population, said vandals holding the tricolour representing the Serb flag had stoned several properties owned by the Muslim community.
Pljevlja is a mainly Serbian town, and the actions of some opposition members have been described as harking back to dark days of the 1990s where a nationalist Serbia sought to brutally quash the Muslims of Bosnia and Kosovo in a bid to prevent them from establishing their own states.
The Democratic Front (DF), which is the largest opposition party, is also closely aligned with Serbia and Russia and is considered rightwing.
In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, the victory by the opposition DF party was welcomed by numerous nationalist demonstrators who congregated outside parliament waving Serb and Montenegrin flags.
In the capital city of Montenegro, Podgorica, there were also reports of members of the opposition attacking people.
Some bystanders reported Serb nationalists were urinating and singing nationalists songs associated with genocide in the 1990s.
Threats of genocide
On Tuesday, unknown assailants broke the windows of the Islamic community’s local office in Pljevlja and left a note reading: “Plevlja will be Srebrenica”, referring to the genocide against Bosniaks committed by Serb forces in July 1995 in Srebrenica, Bosnia.
ALARMING: Attacks on premises of the Islamic community in Pljevlja, Montenegro, by Serbian nationalists with the message of hate: “Pljevlja will be #Srebrenica!”#MontenegroElections #Montenegro #izboriCG pic.twitter.com/p1Yg0iZxe5
— Mirnes Kovac (@MirnesKovac) September 2, 2020
The attacks continued until Thursday when the head imam in Pljevlja posted photos on Facebook showing graffiti scrawled on the brick wall and windows of a property reading “Turks” and “Srebrenica”.
The situation in #Montenegro‘s #Pljevlja won’t calm down. New nationalist and insulting messages towards city’s Muslim #Bosniaks were sprayed on their venues last night. “Srebrenica”, “Move away, Turks” are just some of the nationalistic messages… #awful pic.twitter.com/A82U1uGhUa
— Nedad Memić (@NedadMemic) September 3, 2020
Photos were shared on social media of messages written on roads and signs in a village near Pljevlja reading: “Move out Turks”, “Srebrenica”, 4S and “92”.
Evo ko je htio na ćirilici. Selo Odžak. pic.twitter.com/kKrMapYO3Q
— Ецце Хомо (@0takuCreep) September 3, 2020
“Some are really afraid. We often hear from elders how this all reminds them of 1992 when the terror against the Bosniak population of Pljevlja reached its peak,” Sabanovic said.
“Some are avoiding going out on the streets, which is understandable because there were a few instances where security for Bosniaks or their properties were threatened. It’s purely an expression of power.”
Background to the tensions
Milo Djukanovic has ruled Montenegro for almost 30 years and is one of the longest- serving politicians in Europe.
Formerly an ally of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, Djukanovic is widely perceived to be pro-western, took the country into NATO and campaigned against the union in Serbia in a 2006 referendum.
Anti-corruption campaigners, however, have long had Djukanovic in their sights. In 2015 the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) accused him of building “one of the most dedicated kleptocracies and organized crime havens in the world.”
The OCCRP even awarded Djukanovic the 2015 “Man of the year in organised crime and corruption” for “his work in creating an oppressive political atmosphere and an economy choked by corruption and money laundering, OCCRP honors Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister of Montenegro, as OCCRP’s Person of the Year for his work in promoting crime, corruption and uncivil society.”
Over the last year, tensions have increased when an attempt to pass a bill on ‘Freedom of Religion or Beliefs’ was opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church and pushed by the government of Milo Djukanovic.
The law would require the Serbian Orthodox Church, the largest religious body in the country, to prove its vast holding of lands. The issue led to weeks of unrest and protests which resulted in the Serbian Orthodox Church accusing the government of attacking the church.
The issue only polarised society further.
A Serb member of parliament, Andrija Mandic, warned Muslims not to vote for the law otherwise “horrible things might occur here.”
While not all Montenegrins voted for the Serb nationalist DF party, there were grievances as a result of what is felt were years of mismanagement and corrupt rule by Djukanovic.
The DF party, which is short of an outright majority, will have to create a coalition with Albanian, Bosnian and liberal parties if it wants to form a government. And these parties do not necessarily share its vision of a Greater Serbia.
Photo: The Islamic centre in Pljevlja had its door smashed in, amongst other report of anti-Muslim threats and intimidation post elections.
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