He is a civic activist in Nikšić Boško Pavićević on the night between December 2 and 3, he was beaten after he warned a group of teenagers not to abuse stray dogs, not to pluck flowers on Freedom Square and not to drive a car on a pedestrian zone. A few days ago, the High Court in Podgorica condemned him Dalibor Nikolić to 12 years in prison after he committed the murder of his pregnant partner Cool down Nerds (27), whom he beat continuously for eight hours, and who otherwise suffered years of violence from him.
In order to convey the message that there is enough violence and that we all must stop it together, but that, above all, state and local institutions must create all the preconditions for citizens, as she said Ivana Cogurić from the NGO "Ecopatriotism", to be part of a healthy system in which they will not be afraid of every spoken word and feel threatened, a protest against violence called "The Last Drop" was organized in the town of Trebjes.
Elvis Berisha, the director of the NGO "Koračajte sa nama" said that violence in society is unfortunately increasingly present, as well as that members of the Roma community are increasingly victims of domestic violence.
"Violence must not be present in any home and every home should be a safe home. Violence is not a private matter. It is a matter of public health, but also a matter of human rights," said Berisa.
He pointed out that the violence that is continuously perpetrated against the Roma community requires a systemic change.
"Very often cases of violence against the Roma community remain on the sidelines because the Roma community is not empowered to raise its voice against the violence it suffers on a daily basis. Violence is best understood by those who have suffered it themselves. I say this as someone who had to leave his place of residence in the fourth year, together with his family, due to the violence of the Montenegrin society. In order to face violence and all negative phenomena in society, we must work together to build a fairer Montenegrin society. And in order to do that, it is necessary to have strong institutions, strong civic awareness and a willingness to condemn any negative phenomena, and even less to normalize violence against activists who report illegal actions," said Beriša.
Jelena Colaković from the NGO "Juventas" said that she is angry because she feels that we write and speak in order to convince society that life in violence is a terrible reality that if we do not experience it personally, it does not concern us too much.
"The local community should be the guardian of our fundamental values, but we are often witnesses of ignoring the reality experienced by our fellow citizens", and referred to LGBTI persons who are systematically exposed to violence and discrimination at the local and national level.
As she said, when one member of the community suffers, the whole community feels the consequences.
"We all have to take responsibility for creating safe and accepting spaces. Local self-government is responsible for the sense of security of all citizens, including LGBTI persons, and must not tolerate discrimination or violence in their community," said Čolaković.
Anita Stjepčević from the Center for Women's Rights said that they are in Nikšić because they don't want to forget "all our Joka, Zimrite, Šejla, Branka, Edisa, Ivana, Ljiljana, Dušanka, Senka, Savica, Kristina, Sanja, Anastasia, Milice, Duda, Durija, which were not lucky enough to become even official statistics on the number of femicides".
"We won't let you forget and we don't want it to happen again. We are not going to be humble chalkboards. We bring you the energy of Podgorica's resistance and the solidarity of the non-violent fight against violence. We do not want to live in a society of learned helplessness of the institutions responsible for preventing violence. That's why we want responsibility, we want efficiency, we want a system that will prevent violence and protect victims," she said.
Kristina Mihailović from the "Parents" Association pointed out that the headlines in the media are not even good in reality, because children "watch and try to cope with everything they face on a daily basis".
"Our behavior as adults is not a good example for them. That is why it is our obligation to focus all our efforts on ensuring that our children have better examples and that our children are more protected compared to the current situation, which is not good", Mihailović pointed out and added that children are exposed to violence every day in any in any form and in any place.
She said that children deserve to be protected from anyone who tries to threaten them and that we must stop relativizing violence.
"As long as we 'protect' our children like this, it will happen again and again. We have requests every now and then. At the local and national level - they seem to hear us, they do something small, for two days, without a third. And then nothing. We talk all the time, we ask for regulations. Let's finally sit down and do something about it, not just talk. Our children deserve to live without violence," said Mihailović.
"We are looking for the establishment of a model of taking over officers from the related secretariat and redirecting them to the service of the Municipal Police, which will relieve the officers of the Police Administration. Return the officers to the streets, and if it is not possible to find a way to implement something similar. Establishment of a model law on the application of video surveillance over cultural properties, squares, children's playgrounds, for the sake of suppression and prevention of vandalism and delinquent behavior.Establishment of a communication model for violence and violence prevention and the allocation of space for the promotion of cultural and educational content, which will enable civic initiatives and non-governmental organizations to use the abandoned state space free of charge, without compensation. Consistent and indiscriminate application of the law on noise limitation, and its application during working hours in catering facilities, more intensive control of co-owners of catering facilities in accordance with the Law on Limiting the Use of Tobacco Products. Local self-government to organize enhanced control in accordance with its competences and in cooperation with state institutions in the domain of dispensing and selling alcoholic beverages in catering facilities and markets to minors, as well as to coordinate the increased control of gaming facilities in accordance with the legal regulations that are specific when it comes to minors", Ivana Čogurić read the demands of a group of citizens sent to the local to the administration.
The President of the Municipal Assembly also attended the protest. Nemanja Vuković, who said that most of the requests are under the jurisdiction of the state, but that the local administration will do everything in their power to improve the situation, and that together with the NGO sector and citizens, they will try to influence the Government so that the requests are adopted and implemented. He pointed out that he will help to provide the facility that is owned by the Municipality, as well as that he will initiate the return of the policeman.
"The municipality of Nikšić is in a big problem and we have sent certain initiatives to the Ministry of Public Administration because we have a legal limit to have one municipal policeman for every 5.000 citizens. It is extremely small. Systematization in the Communal Police was disputed, returned for revision. The police administration has an incomparably larger number of officers in Nikšić than the municipal police, and the municipal police has a huge number of jurisdictions that it has to act on," said Vuković and added that the existing number of municipal police officers cannot meet all the needs of the city.
He referred to the case of those arrested for beating the activist Boško Pavićević, and pointed out that he expects the prosecution to seek an adequate sanction for them.
"I really think that we all together as a society must give a clear signal that we must condemn violence at every step, we must together look for models and mechanisms to prevent it and show that it must not be a traditional model of behavior. Both Nikšić and Montenegro have seen violence in the past decades, and we really have to put an end to it," said Vuković.
He pointed out that for two and a half years they have been talking about the necessity of installing video surveillance in Nikšić, for which they had a "ramp" from the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data.
"I believe that as a confirmation of the communication with the Minister of the Interior, Nikšić will receive the final consent to place cameras on all public areas, as recently received by Budva, Kotor and Podgorica, with the aim of protecting cultural assets, city furniture and, of course, recognizing persons who violate public order and peace, suppression of wonderful landfills, and everything that is the problem of all of us who live in this city", said Vuković.
The organizers of the protest met with Vuković the previous day with the aim of promoting cooperation between local self-government and citizens.
The "Last straw" protest will be organized in front of the Government and the Parliament of Montenegro in the coming period, in order to send a message that it is time for culture to flow instead of violence, and the list of demands will be supplemented with additional items.
According to the words Boško Milović, one of the organizers of the protest, democracy does not end on election day, but it is something we must constantly fight for.
"The more of us, the better they will hear us. This is just the beginning. We will continue the protests in Podgorica and with the help of citizens and people from professional fields, secretariats, ministries, those who know their job, all stand on one side and demand concrete moves from the decision-makers both in the Parliament and in the Government. What is currently the biggest problem in this country is violence. This is the last straw. We can't live like this anymore. It's time to stand up and say - enough is enough," said Milović.
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