In the last two years, there has been an evident trend of not reporting public gatherings in order to avoid their possible bans, which puts both the police and citizens in an awkward position.
While the former avoid the denial of freedom of assembly, it is citizens whose freedom of movement is threatened.
Nikoleta Pavićević, a project associate at the Institute of Alternatives (IA), assessed this for "Vijesti".
The latest example of this is the rally that was held on Monday at the Belvedere, which resulted in the blocking of traffic at the entrance to Cetinje.
In the column of cars waiting for the road to Cetinje and Budva to clear, there were also some MPs, diplomats, and presidents of municipalities. They went to the capital for the Europe Day ceremony organized by the EU Delegation in Montenegro. Some of them did not arrive, while others, like several ambassadors, went to the Castle of King Nikola in Cetinje on foot.
Citizens of Cetinje and several other towns gathered at the Belvedere to celebrate May 9 - the Day of Victory over Fascism and the Day of Europe. The invitation to the meeting was shared on social networks and in some media, but it is not known who its organizers were.
Among the participants were officials of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), civil activists, businessmen close to the DPS...
Nikoleta Pavićević says that UP properly enabled citizens to express their views at public gatherings, but failed to ensure respect for freedom of movement for other persons, thus putting one group in a disadvantageous position.
"I would also like to remind you that according to international standards, UP is obliged, in the case of simultaneous public gatherings, to provide equal protection for both gatherings," she notes.
The gathering at the Belvedere, as "Vijesti" was told unofficially from UP, was not registered, although, according to the Law on Public Gatherings and Public Events, the organizer is obliged to submit a written application no later than five days before the gathering.
UP list did not answer the question why their officers, since there was no report, did not prevent the traffic blockade at the entrance to the capital, which caused some citizens to suffer.
The police behaved in a similar way at the end of February, when, although it was not reported to them, they allowed officials and supporters of the Democratic Front (DF) to block roads in several municipalities for an hour as a sign of protest against the formation of a new government.
Pavićević states that in the case of the Belvedere, one cannot speak of a spontaneous public gathering, since by definition these are gatherings that could not be planned in advance.
"Certainly, in accordance with international standards, UP is obliged to ensure the maintenance of every public gathering, even an unannounced one, assuming that it is peaceful. However, the failure of the UP to proactively call for the report of the gathering is evident, given that it was announced days in advance in the media and on social networks. Additionally, UP was obliged to implement an adequate security plan for the participants of the Europe Day ceremony and provide freedom of movement for these persons", she points out.
Among those who did not make it to the reception in the garden of King Nikola's castle on Monday were MPs from DF, leader and MP of Demos Miodrag Lekić, President of Tuzi Municipality Nik Đeljošaj...
Lekić called the case - "the tragedy of Montenegro". "No one explains anything. You can't even see where the plot is, you can't see, at least not from here, the police. But whoever is the director and performer of all this, someone should answer well. Someone from the state too, if she is this weak," he wrote on Facebook.
DF assessed that the blockade of the road to the capital was an important message for the EU, and called on all international organizations based in Montenegro to mark important dates in Podgorica or another city, which, as they stated, "will welcome them without hatred , as a host".
Đeljošaj called the roadblock an "incident", apologizing to the head of the EU Delegation, Oana Kristina Popa. "I hope that it is only irresponsible individuals, because the vast majority of Montenegro is for the EU, respects the EU, its institutions and the official events it organizes," he said on Facebook.
Reminding that non-reporting of events at the Belvedere is not an exception, Pavićević states that since 2020, the IA has registered a "trend of a large share of undeclared gatherings".
"Over 75 percent of gatherings held in 2020 were not registered. Citizens and other subjects increasingly resort to not reporting gatherings in order to avoid temporary bans, but also the assumption of responsibility. In this way, it is difficult for the UP to determine the organizer of a public gathering, who would bear responsibility in the event of any incidents during the gathering, and even more importantly - it prevents the timely adoption of a plan to ensure the protection of citizens' lives and property", the interviewee emphasizes.
She states that, in this context, it is also problematic that spontaneous public gatherings were "clumsily" introduced into the legal framework in 2016, leaving, she says, room for broad interpretation.
"Although the spirit of recognizing spontaneous gatherings was to legalize the urgent response of citizens to certain events in society, we noted different interpretations of norms from police officers. This was also recognized by the UP Report on the application of the Law on Public Gatherings and Public Events in 2020," underlined Pavićević.
Pavićević: Change the Law on Public Gatherings as soon as possible
Pavićević, who is a member of the Working Group for Drafting Amendments to the Law on Public Gatherings and Public Events, points out that this body has not yet started its work.
He states that the deadline for drafting proposals for changes to the law was July 31 last year.
"Even in the previous period, we pointed out that the shortcomings of the Law on Public Gatherings and Public Events produce legal uncertainty... It is necessary to approach the fundamental reconstruction of the law as urgently as possible," she said.
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