Montenegrin Protesters Up Pressure on PM to Quit

The NGO Network for Affirmation of Non-Governmental Sector, MANS, students unions and trade unions are counting the days until the deadline they have set for the government’s resignation.

At a protest march organized on May 5 in Podgorica, they called on the government to step down in ten days after it failed to meet their previous demands.

These include lower electricity and fuel prices, investigations into all dubious privatizations, a more efficient fight against organized crime and corruption and better respect for workers’ and students’ rights.

If the government ingnores their call, they have warned that they will organize a new protest and disobey institutions.

Prime Minister Igor Luksic on Tuesday ignored protesters’ calls for his resignation and ironically commented on their demands.

"When the Soviets intervened in Czechoslovakia in 1968, some Communists in Montenegro organized an urgent meeting and concluded that the Soviets need to withdraw immediately. Aasked - what if Soviets don’t withdraw? - they answered that they would meet again," he said.

The next day, NGO MANS answered the Prime Minister by comparing Montenegro’s protesters with the people of Czechoslovakia during the so-called Prague spring in 1968.

“We ask for our rights and reforms and for a break with the dark past, steadily, peacefully and non-violently, as the people of Czechoslovakia once did," the NGO announced.

Since the last civil protest, MANS activists have continuously organized performances and actions to remind the government of how many days it has until it resigns or they stage another protest, which, they promise, will be more radical than previous ones.

One of the performances took place on Wednesday in front of the building where Luksic lives. Activists held a banner, reading "Six days left. Pack yourself“.

The government condemned the performance, saying it breached the human rights of the building’s residents.