If opposition and Markovic sit at the same table, DF will turn over the table

Do not sit at the table with DPS, Democratic Front (DF) leaders advised the civic opposition at the protest held on Tuesday night in Podgorica.

By organising the protest march, DF marked two years since the protests that were organised in front of the Parliament building on 24 October 2015. About 1,000 people gathered at the protest march.

The protest march was held through the streets that were “marked by police torture” – The Zlatarska street, the Temple of Christ’s Resurrection, as well as the famous Kristal restaurant. DF said it required the same things as two years ago – a transitional government and fair and free elections.

One of the DF leaders Milan Knezevic said he was not afraid.

“There is no Milivoje Katnic who can scare DF. We will not betray you and we will not give up, we do not have another choice,” said MP Milan Knezevic.

He urged the civic opposition to join the DF’s actions and not sit at the same table with prime minister Dusko Markovic.

“If they sit at the table with Markovic, DF’s top command will turn over the table,” Knezevic said.

The people who had been victims and witnesses of everything that happened then addressed the crowd.

One of the protesters, Pedja Mitrovic, said he was hit by a rubber bullet.

“I was hit in my cheek,” he said.

Commenting on beating up Mijo Martinovic, journalist Drazen Zivkovic said that he had not attended the protest in 2015, but ended up there accidentally.

“Police officers vented their rage on Martinovic. In that way, they wanted to threaten people not to protest,” he said.

Recalling the protest, the priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church Jovan Plamenac said he had realised one thing then.

“Then it passed through my head that Montenegro is a schizophrenic creature,” he said.

He added that he had gone down to Skaline after teargas was fired on 24 October 2015 and spent some time on the bank of the Moraca river with Andrija Mandic. Then they had gone to the Kristal restaurant, where one of the DF leaders was arrested.

“The teargas was spreading through the Nemanja’s city, which they call Turkish. And then there was still a cross on the Clock Tower in Podgorica. I hope this day will be a holiday of freedom and a symbol of resistance. And I hope a memorial will be erected with a sentence on it – this is the place where Andrija Mandic, a symbol of resistance, was arrested,” he said.