Ombudsman: Protest in Podgorica racist, sends image of Montenegro as a xenophobic state

It is evident that last night's protests in Podgorica have taken on the proportions of a mass expression of a phenomenon that, at best, can be defined as racism, said the Institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, which called for this, as they said, racist hysteria to stop.

It was also pointed out that the images that have been made public will certainly be used to characterize the country as xenophobic, and perhaps even risky for foreigners who come to it, live in it, or do business there.

"The Ombudsman's Institution regrets that numerous appeals to calm tensions after the wounding of a young man in Zabjelo have not been accepted. In doing so, we emphasize once again that the lives and health of everyone residing in Montenegro are the greatest state interest, and the fight against all forms of crime is one of the ways in which this goal is achieved. We remind you that the right to freedom of assembly is a way of freely expressing opinions in a democratic society, however, the scenes we witnessed last night threaten to discredit everything that civil society should stand for," the Ombudsman's statement states.

Negative social phenomena, including violence, cannot be fought with violence, but with the power of the state and its institutions, the statement added.

"Namely, it is evident that last night's protests have increased the scale of the mass expression of a phenomenon that can at best be defined as racism, and that a large number of young people who have yet to make their contribution to building a state and society participated in them. Any generalization and/or association of any nation or ethnic group with the worst and lightest forms of violence and perpetrators in the community or on a much broader level is racism, even at the very root of the description of such a phenomenon, not to mention the fact that violence and expulsion were announced or called for in relation to all citizens of Turkey," the Ombudsman's office points out.

They point out that this is unacceptable for at least two reasons.

"First, because of the racial profiling of the entire nation as criminogenic, and second, because these phenomena will have incalculable consequences - not on a single ethnic group or community - but on the entire Montenegro as a society and state. Namely, the images that have become public will certainly be used to characterize the state as xenophobic, and perhaps even risky for foreigners who come to it, live in it or carry out their activities there. With all this reminder that we have already paid tribute to similar things with the events that took place in Danilovgrad many years ago, but also with some events that were recorded at sporting events in Montenegro. If we really care about the reputation of the state and those of us who tie our future to it, this hysteria must stop immediately, and it is certain that all messages to the state and its apparatus can be sent in a significantly different and no less effective way, as befits a civil society," the statement concludes.