Marko Milacic

Marko Milacic, who heads the Resistance to Hopelessness ("Otpor Beznadju") Movement, has set a NATO flag on fire.

He did this in front of the Spuz prison in Podgorica, where he showed up on Monday to start serving his 20-day sentence.

A group of pro-Russian opposition parties and an anti-NATO organisation in Montenegro are demanding a referendum on NATO membership as the date for when parliament is expected to vote on the issue looms.

The axed former director of Montenegro's public broadcaster, RTCG, Rade Vojvodic, on Thursday announced a lawsuit against the board that fired him amid claims in the pro-government media of an opposition plot to unseat him.

Montenegrin journalist Marko Milacic has filed a complaint against the management of the public broadcaster, RTCG, and its director, after they scrapped the competition for a new chief of the state TV, claiming the decision was illegal and politically motivated.

More than 10,000 people have taken part over two weeks in an online referendum on the military status of Montenegro, the pro-Russian organization behind the vote said.

The vote is a move to pressure the authorities to organize a national plebiscite on NATO membership.

Police in Montenegro fired tear gas on Saturday to disband hundreds of protesters who have been calling for the government to resign and hold early elections amid allegations of corruption and election fraud.

At least three opposition leaders and several MPs were injured during the violence, which erupted when protesters tried to march toward the parliament headquarters in Podgorica.

The Movement for Neutrality, the most vocal anti-NATO organisation in Montenegro, reacted angrily after US ambassador Margaret Ann Uyehara's blog post arguing that membership of the Western military alliance would help the country become more stable and prosperous was republished by local media on Sunday.

The Basic Court in Podgorica on Monday began a hearing in the case of an attack on a journalist, Marko Milacic, who says he was assaulted after recording alleged election irregularities on the part of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.