Union: Anyone who asks the police to step aside to enter a protected facility is ignorant or malicious

Anyone who asks the police to step aside in order to enter a protected facility uninvited and without permission is either completely ignorant or deeply malicious, the Independent Police Union announced today.

"Laws, service rules and the oath dictate that the primary task of the police is to protect public order and the personal and property safety of citizens. The police are obliged to protect the person or object they are protecting, acting within the framework of their powers, at all costs, even if it is the most difficult for those same police officers. This is an obligation and there is no room for thinking about whether we will or will not. Anyone who is in a dilemma should not wear a uniform," the Independent Police Union said in a statement.

They added that entry into the protected facility is only possible with notice and special permission and no other means.

"Especially not by force, which is what some of the actors in the events in front of Vila Gorica called for. Anyone who asks the police to move aside in order to enter a protected facility uninvited and without permission is either completely ignorant or deeply malicious. Calling on the people to consciously engage in conflict with the police is the ultimate abuse of the inflammatory atmosphere and dissatisfaction of the gathered citizens. Anyone who makes such a call knows very well that the police will not and have no right to move aside because in doing so they would themselves be breaking the law," said the Independent Police Union.

On the eve of the July Thirteenth Award ceremony, a protest was held in front of Vila Gorica on July 8 against the awarding of the award to writer Bećir Vuković.

At the protest, a scuffle broke out between the police and several hundred citizens gathered, and the police also used pepper spray.

The Independent Police Union said that there are only two options.

"Either, by pushing people to break the law, they are consciously provoking a police reaction that will lead to even greater dissatisfaction among the gathered citizens, or that someone lives in some imaginary, parallel world where they can move both police officers and other citizens according to their own wishes and needs. Following this analogy and the thinking of the protest leaders, tomorrow we will find ourselves in a situation where a robber asks a police officer to step aside because he is planning to rob a store on that very street. Unfortunately for them, the police are not there to fulfill the wishes of lawbreakers," the statement reads.

The Independent Police Union also announced that the police do not conduct state or local politics, do not set prices in markets, and do not award state awards.

"The police, to repeat, protect citizens and their property by enforcing the law. We fully understand the citizens' revolt on many issues in our society and their dissatisfaction. As someone who had to fight for their rights on the streets, the Independent Police Union of Montenegro also supports protests as a legitimate form of expressing dissatisfaction. What is crucial is that every protest must be peaceful and without going beyond the legal framework. The moment the law is broken, public order and peace are disrupted, or there is a danger of this happening, the police are obliged and must react," the statement reads.

The Independent Police Union said that police officers standing in any cordon are not to blame for the citizens' dissatisfaction nor did they cause it.

"But they always, completely unnecessarily and undeservedly, get the better of them and that volley of dissatisfaction falls right on them. We have long been accustomed to insults and psychological harassment and are ready to stand still, but don't expect us to stand still while you push, hit, throw stones at us or otherwise physically threaten us. The leniency towards offenders and at the same time the degree of vulnerability of police officers is best demonstrated by the fact that even in situations that potentially pose the greatest danger to police officers, they are ordered to refrain and defend themselves with the mildest means that will cause the attacker minimal damage. We are witnesses that in much more democratic and well-ordered societies this is not the case," they said.

The Independent Police Union stated that the abuse of civil discontent and the incitement of conflict and riots that lead to physical attacks on police officers and their injuries must not be silenced or forgotten under any circumstances.

"The Independent Police Union of Montenegro clearly and unwaveringly stands behind every police officer who does their job honorably, professionally and in accordance with the law. Who is the one who will come under the law for their actions is not and should not be a subject of our interest at all, nor are we interested in names, titles, or positions. Everyone should be equal before the law," the statement reads.