The Center for Civic Education (CCE) condemned the "vandalistic act of writing graffiti with a direct message of hate speech" in front of the apartment building where civic activists Nikola Ilić and Hana Konatar live.
"This message is not just graffiti - it is a threat, it is tangible hatred, it is an attempt to intimidate and drive citizens out of their city," said Miloš Knežević, CCE development coordinator.
CCE appreciates, as he said, that the "cowardly attack on Hana and Nikola" is also a direct attack on the basic values of civil society and the freedom of all citizens.
"We remind you that this is not the first time this has happened, and even if it did, just another protocol report is not enough. CCE emphasizes that institutions do not have the right to be passive and selective in resolving such cases, because they thereby become accomplices in ongoing attempts to 'normalize' violence and discrimination. We call on the Police and Prosecutor's Office to urgently identify the perpetrators of this crime and send a message that Montenegro is not, and will not be, a space in which activists are openly attacked, and that all this goes without consequences. The following clearly emerges from this silence of the institutions - where the state does not protect, it indirectly approves. We also call on all those who believe in a free, dignified and just Montenegro - citizens, organizations, initiatives - to raise their voices against hatred. We cannot and must not remain silent in the face of threats, because every silent threat is a green light for the next attack and escalation of violence. We will not leave the settlement. We will not leave the state either. We remain. And we fight," it says in press release.
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