In the night between Saturday and Sunday, unknown perpetrators stole the flagpole and flag erected in the Mojkovac village of Štitarice just a few hours earlier.
Local Dusko Baković he told "Vijesti" that a new mast and flag were installed yesterday and that he would organize guards, after the ten-meter-high mast was cut and taken away under cover of night, and the flag with it.
The state flag in front of the premises of the Memorial Home in that village, that is, the premises of the Local Community (MJ), which had been installed a long time ago, was also taken down.
Bakovović says that the Mojkovac police conducted an investigation yesterday morning.
"We expect the perpetrators to be discovered as soon as possible. The installation of the flag was donated by 63 families from Štitarica. Among them are families living in Serbia and several cities in Montenegro. Previously, we had an agreement with our neighbors, everything went smoothly and no one, at least verbally, objected to placing the flag in front of the church. Despite this, yesterday (Saturday) 50 police officers were sent to Štitarić, who were providing security for the flag-raising event. I hope that the same number of policemen will be engaged in discovering the perpetrators", Baković told "Vijesta" yesterday.
In front of the church in that Mojkovac village 20 days ago, a Serbian tricolor with four glasses was placed.
Several residents of Štitarica claim that no flag has ever been placed in front of the village church, which is about 128 years old.
Locals claim that at least 50 policemen from Ulcinj, Bar, Herceg Novi, Kolašin and Mojkovac attended the installation of the Montenegrin flag in front of the church on Saturday. For days, they have been engaged in a search operation for the fugitive Alija Balijagić, suspected of a double murder in Sokolac, Bijelo Polje. Allegedly, due to the danger of conflict between two groups of citizens - those who put up the Montenegrin flag and their neighbors who put up the tricolor a few weeks ago.
The rally, however, passed without incident.
Locals who organized the installation of the Montenegrin flag say that they previously reached an agreement with the neighbors who installed the tricolor with glasses.
"That flag created a big rift in our local community. We asked for a humane agreement that they should remove the flag, that we should not put it up. To reconcile the village and to continue to live as we have lived so far. However, they don't accept these things, they say - you do what suits you, and we stick to this", says one of them.
The church, in front of which there were briefly two masts with two flags, was built by the then municipality of Štitarička, under the government of the prince Nikola Petrović, July 8, 1896. From then until recently, according to the locals, there was no flag in front of the church.
Several interlocutors of "Vijesti" from Štitarica say that many families in the village believe that no flag has a place in front of the "temple of God".
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