Pljevlja

Democratic Front MPs at a Montenegrin parliament session in Podgorica. Photo: Parliament of Montenegro

They said on Saturday that pro-Serbian politicians Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic's New Serbian Democracy and Democratic People's Party will go to polls as a coalition, while Nebojsa Medojevic's Movement for Changes will compete on its own.

In Montenegro, heavy rain in the towns of Pljevlja, Mojkovac and Rozaje blocked roads due to rising water levels and landslides. The Interior Ministry said its Protection and Rescue Office was in constant communication with local authorities, adding that the army is on standby if the situation worsens.

An investigation is underway. This information was confirmed for the RTCG web portal in response to questions about allegations that some Montenegrin citizens participated in the crime against Serbs in ajnie.

Protests against the detention of the Serbian Orthodox clergy in Pljevlja, Montenegro. Photo: Facebook video screenshot

Police battled protesters in Pljevlja and Niksic with tear gas, leaving dozens of police officers and protesters injured. Protests also took place in Budva, Berane and the capital, Podgorica.

Metropolitan Amfilohije, the Serbian Orthodox Church's most senior bishop in Montenegro, said Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic should return the medal the Church gave him, as he no longer deserved it.

Serbian criminologist Dobrivoje Radovanovic has warned that Serbia must cooperate more effectively with Montenegro and step up its attempts to combat violent crime after another murder of a Montenegrin citizen in Belgrade.

"Better cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro would help," Radovanovic told BIRN. 

The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, party won most votes in ten out of 12 municipalities on Sunday, but will only be able to form an administration on its own in five of them.

The preliminary results show that the DPS, run by the country's veteran leader Milo Djukanovic, secured an absolute majority in the capital Podgorica for the first time since the early 2000s.

The German ambassador in Montenegro, Gudrun Steinacker, on Monday said Montenegrin citizens planning to live and work in Germany illegally will "certainly fail to succeed".

She said it was difficult to obtain accurate data on the number of citizens from the north of Montenegro who had gone to Germany to find jobs but noted that "a few thousand people are being mentioned in public.

Montenegro's government has been urged to reveal how many Montenegrins are fleeing the north of the country and seeking asylum in Western Europe because of poor living conditions and unemployment.

A searing indictment of the state of cleanliness in all 15 Montenegrin hospitals was published on Wednesday showing the presence of dangerous bacteria and poor standards of hygiene.

Of more than 400 surveyed samples taken in November and December, more than 30 per cent registered bacteria, media reported.