Podgorica Protesters Give PM Six Days to Resign

Several thousand people continued to demonstrate in Podgorica on Sunday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's administration.

Tensions were high as anti-government protesters gathered amid tight security following violent clashes on Saturday when riot police dispersed demonstrators.

The protest organisers, an alliance of several opposition parties calling itself the Democratic Front, promised fresh demonstrations across "the whole of Montenegro will come" if Djukanovic's government doesn't resign by next Saturday.

Opposition leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying it's imperative they "do not fall for provocation and act with dignity", as many fear further violence after several people threw stones at police officers, who then fired tear gas.

"We will not surrender, this is the real Montenegro," opposition leader Nebojsa Medojevic told protestors chanting "victory, victory".

Another opposition official, Andrija Mandic, said that Djukanovic left the country by plane at 18.30pm on Sunday, but his party, the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, denied such claims.

The DPS accused the Democratic Front of trying to destroy the country's "constitutional order and stop it in its aim of joining NATO".

Unofficial police estimates say that around 5,000 people attended the rally at Podgorica's main square but organisers claimed that around 10,000 demonstrators attended the rally to demand the government's resignation and early elections.

The leaders of several opposition parties, NGOs and student organisations that had not previously supported the Democratic Fronts protests - which began at the end of September - also joined the anti-government demonstrations on Sunday.