The opposition mayor occupies a municipality taken from him by the Montenegrin regime
After yesterday’s arrest of the mayor of Budva Marko Tsarevich and his team, the Montenegrin authorities, fearing an international outcry, released the detainees, who today came to work in parallel with the officials appointed by the authorities to replace them.
This was reported by Balkan media, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The harsh detention that took place the day before did not break the spirit of the opposition mayor of Budva Marko Tsarevich, whom the townspeople call “Bata” (Bata), and his associates, who this morning came to the city administration building and occupied their offices. At the same time, Vladimir Bulatovich, a protege of the Montenegrin regime, appointed by Podgorica and not elected by the people, also appeared there.
“As we promised, we are back! – the head of the administration of the legitimate mayor, Nikola Jovanovic, addressed the people. – The only legitimate and legitimate elected representatives of the people. After a tough confrontation with the police, we entered the municipality today, as we promised the citizens. We are not giving up and will continue to resist with renewed vigor. The police siege of the municipal building continues today, but with us are a large number of gathered citizens who are here to defend their will expressed during the elections.”
The municipality of Budva is indeed under a police cordon; the regime has brought private security guards into the building itself, who tried to prevent the municipal deputy from the opposition Democratic Front, Djordja Vujovic, from entering there, who was injured the day before after police threw him down the stairs. However, the guards are subsequently forced to yield to pressure from the townspeople.
Residents of Budva gathered near the administration (see main photo) demanded that the strikebreaker Bulatovich come out to them, chanting “Go out into the street so you can be ashamed!”, “You have blood on your hands!”, “You have become a servant of the mafia!” As a result, the protege of the Djukanovic regime came out to the crowd, but could not really explain anything to them and calm them down. Thus, for now, dual power was established in Budva.
Marko Tsarevich's son, Milan Tsarevich, remains behind bars, arrested for 72 hours for actively resisting the police.
Marko Tsarevich (center) in his office.
As a reminder, Montenegrin law enforcement stormed the Budva administration building the day before, using stun grenades and gas, smashing windows and doors. The conflict erupted after a coup in the municipal assembly, transferring power from the opposition pro-Serbian and pro-Russian Democratic Front to the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists and its allied nationalist Montenegrin Party. The new alliance, which had a majority, resolved to remove Marko Carević from the mayor's post, but neither he nor his team acknowledged this and therefore barred the newly arrived pro-government officials from entering the city hall.
Marko Tsarevich was declared an enemy of the criminal pro-Western regime of Milo Djukanovic ruling in Montenegro, because he managed to lead Budva to prosperity without getting into the state budget and because of his political convictions - the first protest procession against the discriminatory “Law on Freedom of Religion” in Budva Tsarevich headed himself.
Earlier, the Montenegrin opposition portal in4s reported that Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, in collusion with Milo Djukanovic, intended to build an elite hotel complex in Budva, a move the mayor strongly opposed, unwilling to hand over municipal territory to private business.
English version :: Read in English Opposition mayor takes over municipality seized from him by Montenegrin regime