Protest by the residents of Bjeliš in front of the Municipality of Bar: Nenezić requests a hearing, Raičević says that the opposition is politicizing the protest

Residents of the Bar settlement Bjeliši are protesting for the second time in front of the Municipality of Bar to express their dissatisfaction with the local road that should pass through their houses

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Photo: Marija Pešić
Photo: Marija Pešić
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 12.12.2024. 13:08h

"We are waiting for the Government's reaction", "Raičević, whose interests are you defending", "We will not give away our grandfather's land", these are some of the messages that the citizens gathered in front of the Municipality of Bar sent to the first man of that administration, Dušan Raičević.

Residents of the Bar settlement Bjeliši protest for the second time in front of the Municipality of Bar to express their dissatisfaction with the local road that should pass through their houses. The protest started half an hour before the session of the Municipal Assembly (SO) of Bar, where the budget for 2025 will be discussed and voted on.

Councilors from the Europe Now Movement and the Democrats addressed the crowd.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

The Democrats' councilor club submitted amendments to the Decision on the budget of the Municipality of Bar for 2025 in which they requested that the item intended for the purchase of land in Bjeliši be deleted.

Their councilor, Valentina Minić, asked for an interruption and postponement of the SO session because, as she said, they are sitting in peace while their fellow citizens are protesting in front of the municipal building because they can be left without a roof over their heads and defend their rights.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

She asked that they all come out to talk to them and see how they could help them. The president of SO Bar, Branislav Nenezić, said that although the budget contains "what worries them, it does not necessarily mean that it will be implemented".

He did not see a problem with continuing the session and assessed that any delay would call into question the functioning of the local administration. After that, Minic asked for a break because of the new material they received at the session today, so Nenezic suggested that she leave the session to the vice-president and go out to the citizens with her.

Then Raičević spoke, who said that because of the problems of the family from Bjelis, he was at a meeting at the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property, but that he did not know what the reason was or the outcome of that meeting. He requested, as he said, the minutes from that meeting and received the answer that the minutes were not kept.

He informed the councilors about the details of the detailed urban plan "Topolica IV" and the street S3, which is planned to be built on the site of the houses in Bjelište.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

He confirmed that the SO Bar adopted this plan, which is now under the jurisdiction of the line ministry, and said that citizens had an earlier opportunity to influence this plan. He also presented his activities towards the Government of Montenegro and the ministries for the request to amend the DUP "Topolica IV".

"Four ministers have changed in all that time, so you can see whose interest it is in, because these are the same people that the citizens elected to represent them there," said Raičević.

The Cadastre Administration did the land assessment, not the Municipality of Bar, after which they paid the money to the ministry.

"Let the money (given to the ministry for expropriation) be returned, but I will also ask that at least the minimum interest that we would have received if we had paid that money with commercial banks be calculated," he said.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

He concluded that most of the authorities have been taken away from the local administration, that the authority lies with the ministry, which gives the problem of the word "can, but passes the ball to the Municipality of Bar".

Those gathered said that they came today in front of the Municipality of Bar in order to exert legitimate pressure to adopt these amendments, even though they know that the councilors of the ruling majority will abstain, which they consider cowardice.

Verbal conflict between Raičević and Janković

Raičević came out to divtalks to the citizens, but soon it happened verballyg of the conflict between him and the councilors of the Movement Europe now Darko Janković, after which Raičević left the meeting.

RAićević and Janković
photo: Marija Pešić

He told the opposition councilors to try to politicize the citizens' protest, to which Janković replied that if Raičević was unable to defend his own, it does not mean that these citizens have no right.

"The budget is not a holy book"

After the adoption of the SO agenda, Nenezić and part of the opposition councilors came out to talk to the citizens.

"The budget is not a holy book," Nenezić told the crowd and warned them that politicians and government subjects would soon visit them to offer them double money for their properties and that they would be manipulated.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

The citizens told Nenezić that the political groups to which he belongs brought this DUP that is demolishing their homes, and he asked them who they are who today do not want to accept the amendments to that DUP.

Rajko Jokanović told Nenezić that Raičević promised them that he would stop the expropriation process. Nenezić asked them why they came before the session of the Council of Ministers and why they did not come to him earlier.

The citizens emphasized that this is not a political but a civil protest and that none of them are in the party and will not allow their situation to be misused for political purposes.

The opposition councilors sided with the citizens, informing them that they had requested an interruption of the session, which Nenezić refused, and Nenezić said that this was exactly the goal of this gathering, which the citizens denied.

Nenezić proposes a control hearing of Radunović

The opposition councilors returned to the hall to discuss the budget of the Municipality of Bar, and Nenezić stayed to talk with the citizens who informed him in detail about the problem.

He invited them to come to his office tomorrow before the session of the Council of Ministers and see together what they can do. He proposed that, as a deputy and member of the parliamentary committees, he initiates a control hearing of Minister Slaven Radunović and told them that he would clearly see how things stand there.

"Revenge for resistance to local government"

The local road in Bjeliši should pass over about 14 houses where about 20 families live. The Municipality of Bar initiated the expropriation procedure, which these citizens of Bar oppose and claim that it is a forced sale without their consent.

They repeatedly pointed out that the project is being done in the interest of local investors who bought neighboring meadows for the construction of buildings and paid a fee for communal equipment, so the Municipality of Bar is obliged to build a road for them, but at their expense.

Stefan Jokanović told "Vijesta" that they are protesting because nothing has changed since the last gathering last week.

"It's no secret that our families were never in favor of the current government in Bar, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), everyone knows that we always resisted that system and now we see, in a way, a kind of revenge for that and a reward for investors who supported them", said Jokanović.

He assessed that the ruling councilors "according to the mayor's direct instructions" will refrain from the Democrats' proposal, which should solve their problem, because it is the true image of the values ​​that their parties cherish, which are hypocrisy and cowardice.

"Since the beginning, for 12 years that this problem has been going on", not a single step has been taken by the Municipality of Bar to come up with a compromise solution.

White protest
photo: Marija Pešić

Rajko Jokanović told "Vijesta" on behalf of the gathered that for months now, responsibility has been shifting from one to the other, that is, from the Municipality of Bar to the line ministry and vice versa.

He emphasized that they are protesting in front of the local government because the Municipality of Bar is a party to the expropriation that was initiated against their will, and that the municipality of Bar is forcing them to leave their homes that have been in their family for generations for a pittance.

"He extended his hand to me in his cabinet and said that he would ask for the money paid to the ministry to be returned, and everyone knows that interest between state institutions does not exist," he concluded.

The residents of Bjeliš have been opposing and in various ways expressing their dissatisfaction with the road planned over their houses for several years. They addressed the competent ministries, the local administration, the Protector of Human and Minority Rights and the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović.

They spoke about this at the recent public debate on the budget of the Municipality of Bar for the next year, and said that they would not agree to forced expropriation and would sue the local government as a party to the proceedings.

Through unofficial channels, they were informed that the court proceedings and the appeal will not delay the execution because it is a road of public interest.

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