Opposition groups in Montenegro expect tens of thousands of protesters to demand the government's resignation today, a week after police injured several people when they used tear gas and batons to disperse demonstrators.
Protest leaders demand that prime minister Milo Djukanovic step down after dominating Montenegrin politics for over two decades, but his supporters accuse them of doing Russia's bidding to block the country's accession to Nato.
"We demand the resignation of Djukanovic's government and the formation of an interim, national unity government, whose tenure will be limited to one year and whose single mandate would be to organise free and fair elections," said Koca Pavlovic, a prominent member of the opposition Democratic Front coalition.
The rule of Mr Djukanovic, who as president and prime minister has ruled Montenegro almost constantly since 1991, has always been dogged by allegations of corruption and authoritarianism that his repeated denials have failed to silence.
He led the country of 625,000 people to independence from a loose union with Serbia in 2006, strengthened ties with the European Union, resisted pressure from Russia and now hopes to secure an invitation to join Nato in December.
The Democratic Front rejects claims that it is acting on orders from Russia or Serbia to derail the Nato bid and insists it is challenging Mr Djukanovic now to allow time for change before parliamentary elections due next year.
"We expect tens of thousands of people attending our Saturday rally; given our country's population these are huge numbers," Mr Pavlovic told The Irish Times yesterday, adding that he feared government agents would provoke violence.
“At any rate, what will happen after Saturday is too unprecedented to be predictable with any certainty. The only definite thing is that we won’t give up on the goals we’ve set.”
Last Saturday, riot police broke up a small tent camp that the opposition had erected three weeks earlier, but the following day thousands of protesters returned to central Podgorica, with some hurling stones and flares at police.
Visiting Brussels this week, Nebojša Medojevic of the Democratic Front said Montenegro was "on the edge of serious instability, maybe even civil war".
“Nobody in the Democratic Front is asking for this, but more and more young people are taking to the streets to express their dissatisfaction.”
Russia has blamed the unrest on Montenegro’s push to secure accession to Nato at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in early December.
Moscow’s foreign ministry said Montenegro’s bid to join the alliance “does not lead to its consolidation and prosperity. On the contrary, we are witnessing the ideological polarisation of society and the escalation of socio-economic problems.”
Mr Pavlovic said many Montenegrins were still wary of Nato 16 years after its aircraft bombed targets there during the Kosovo war, but insisted the protests had“nothing to do with Nato, Russia, the USA or anything other than free elections.”
Mr Djukanovic said it was “strategically important that we do not spoil anything in the next couple of months”.
