2019–2020 clerical protests in Montenegro
In late December 2019, a wave of protests started against the controversial, newly adopted "Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Legal Status of Religious Communities" which effectively transferred ownership of church buildings and estates built before 1918 (when the Montenegrin state was abolished and annexed by Kingdom of Serbia) from the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro to the Montenegrin state. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which owned 66 mainly medieval monasteries, dozens of churches and other real estate there, insisted the state wanted to impound its assets, while Pro-Western Montenegro's president Milo Đukanović, accused the Serbian church of promoting pro-Serb policies that are aimed at "undermining Montenegrin statehood".
2019–2020 clerical protests in Montenegro | |||
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Protest prayer walks in front of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica, on 26 January 2020 | |||
Date | 24 December 2019 – 30 August 2020 (8 months and 6 days) | ||
Location | Montenegro | ||
Caused by |
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Goals | Withdrawal of the disputed law | ||
Methods | Nonviolent protest marches, road block protests, barricade, civil disobedience | ||
Resulted in | Serbian Orthodox Church victory;
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Parties | |||
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Lead figures | |||
Amfilohije Radović
Joanikije Mićović Zdravko Krivokapić Ratko Mitrović Miodrag Davidović Andrija Mandić Nebojša Medojević Milan Knežević Marko Carević Goran Danilović Marko Milačić Vladimir Joković Vladimir Pavićević Aleksa Bečić
Milo Đukanović
Milan Roćen Duško Marković Zoran Pažin Predrag Bošković Aleksandar Bogdanović Mevludin Nuhodžić Srđan Darmanović Branimir Gvozdenović Ivan Brajović Rafet Husović Ranko Krivokapić Andrija Popović Miraš Dedeić Jevrem Brković |