HRA: Police were obliged to react to chants of "Kill the Turk" and prevent the introduction of Croatian fans' banners

The Human Rights Action (HRA) announced that it has submitted a petition to the Council for Citizens' Control of Police Work in order to assess the conduct of the police at public gatherings held in the Podgorica neighborhoods of Zabjelo and City kvart on October 27, 2025, at the anti-migrant rally in front of the Government of Montenegro in Podgorica on October 28, 2025, as well as at the Montenegro - Croatia football match on November 17, 2025 at the City Stadium in Podgorica.

HRA said they believed that the police, who were securing the protests on October 27 and 28, were obliged to react to the chants "Kill, kill the Turk", "Turks out" and "We don't want migrants", which constituted hate speech, which is prohibited, and which, as they stated, created a threatening atmosphere in the city, especially in neighborhoods where the most Turkish citizens live.

"According to our understanding of the applicable laws (the Law on Public Order and Peace, the Law on Public Assemblies, the Law on Internal Affairs, the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination and the Criminal Code), the police were obliged to warn the participants of the gathering that hate speech was prohibited and to break up the gathering where the participants persisted in using such speech," the statement said.

HRA believes that immediately before and during the Montenegro - Croatia match, the police did not act in accordance with their obligations and powers prescribed by the Law on the Prevention of Violence and Inappropriate Behavior at Sports Events.

"During the match, Croatian fans chanted slogans like 'Kill a Serb', 'Ready for the homeland' and 'The Ustasha flag is flying', and held up a large banner: 'Voices are heard from Dubrovnik, let's f*ck the Chetniks. There is no forgiveness!'. All slogans, both oral and written, constitute undeniable hate speech, which the police have announced they will prosecute later, after the fans have left the country," the statement reads.

However, as they said, in such a case, which involved an "increased risk event", the police are required to take special preventive measures in cooperation with the event organizer, specifically to prevent the introduction and display of banners with hate messages, to detain spectators who behave violently or disrupt public order and peace with hate speech, and to request in advance the presence of a misdemeanor judge and state prosecutor at the match in order to effectively prosecute perpetrators of misdemeanors and criminal offenses at a sports event.

"However, the police, in cooperation with the event organizer, did not prevent the introduction of a huge banner of Croatian fans with a message of hate into the stadium, which represents an obvious failure in security and the application of legal powers. The police were obliged to conduct an inspection, seize the controversial banner, identify and sanction those responsible, remove them from the field or even interrupt the event if the unacceptable behavior continued. The lack of a warning or other immediate measure in such a situation by the perpetrators is an omission, which is repeated at sports matches," it states.

HRA has petitioned the Council for Citizens' Control of Police Work to investigate the police's actions at the aforementioned gatherings, in order to ensure adequate response to hate speech at similar events in the future.

"Specifically, we have asked the Council to: initiate a procedure to assess the application of police powers at the gatherings in question; request a report from the Police Directorate on the presence and conduct of officers, with an explanation of why the gatherings and matches were not interrupted nor were participants warned about hate speech; determine whether police officers recognized and adequately responded to hate speech and incitement to national intolerance; examine the responsibility of the officers and police officers responsible for securing the gathering, if it is determined that they failed to act in accordance with the law - and in particular to determine how Croatian fans were allowed to bring a huge banner with a hate message into the stadium, even though such material is prohibited by law," the HRA pointed out.

They added that they expect the Council to independently and thoroughly review the police's actions within a reasonable period of time and publish its opinion.

"We are witnessing increasingly frequent hate speech and nationalistic slogans at public and sporting events, to which the police do not react. It is time to stop this and for the authorities to finally start consistently enforcing the laws. We also remind you that the European Union, in its negotiating chapter 23, requires Montenegro to effectively combat xenophobia and ensure the efficient prosecution of hate crimes, including hate speech," the HRA statement concluded.