Montenegro: Police arrest 18 MPs after parliament clash

BELGRADE, Serbia

Montenegrin police arrested 18 MPs after a chaos broke out in parliament over freedom of religion law on Friday.

A bill, strongly opposed by the Serbian Orthodox Church and the opposition Democratic Front party, began to be discussed at the General Assembly on Thursday.

The opposition lawmakers tried to prevent the vote after midnight.

Afterwards, there was a melee between the opposition MPs and some ruling MPs who threw water bottles at Parliament speaker Ivan Brajovic and some deputies.

According to the footage and reports, bottles were thrown at the hall and a firecracker or tear gas canister was also thrown.

A total of 22 people were detained, including 18 MPs from the pro-Serbian opposition Democratic Front (DF).

Out of the detained MPs, 15 of them were quickly released but two leaders of the DF, Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic, were held on suspicion of preventing an official from carrying out their duty.

Another DF deputy was held for allegedly assaulting an official.

Following the intervention, measures for necessary security were taken and the voting was held. The bill passed with 45 to 0 votes in the parliament.

Serbian Orthodox members protested against the draft law, which was prepared at the request of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic in June.

The draft legislation adopts the Serbian churches in the country as "state property".

The bill envisions that churches built in Montenegro after World War I and those built before the country became part of the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian Kingdom to become state property.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is the dominant religious organization in Montenegro as well as the Montenegrin Orthodox Church despite Montenegro's independence from Serbia.

Montenegro declared its independence from Serbia on May 21, 2006 after a referendum.

According to 2017 census, more than 400,000 Orthodox make up 72% of Montenegro's 620,000 population.