Montenegrins demand top security officials resign after 12 killed in mass shooting

Thousands of people have protested in Montenegro to demand the resignations of top security officials after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting on New Year’s Day.

Chanting “Resignations” and “Killers”, protesters staged dual rallies in the capital Podgorica and in the central town of Cetinje where the shooting happened.

Outside the Interior Ministry building in Podgorica, people demanded that Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović and Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defenxe Aleksa Bečić step down.

Milo Perović, from a student-led group that helped organise the rally, told the crowd that innocent people died during their watch.

“You failed to protect us, so resign!” Perović said.

Hours earlier, hundreds of people held 12 minutes of silence for the 12 victims at a rally in Cetinje, Montenegro’s historic capital.

It was the second such massacre in the town in less than three years.

Many residents of Cetinje and other Montenegrins believe that police mishandled the situation and haven’t done enough to boost security since the first massacre, which happened in August 2022.

That attacker gunned down 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.

Wednesday’s shooting resulted from a bar brawl. A 45-year-old local man went home to get his gun before returning to the bar and opening fire.

He killed four people there and eight more at various other locations before killing himself.

The massacre has fuelled concerns about the level of violence in Montenegrin society, which is politically divided.

It also raised questions about the readiness of state institutions to tackle the problems, including gun ownership.

Police have said the shooting was impossible to predict and prevent, though the gunman, identified as Aco Martinović, had been convicted for violent behaviour and yasa dışı weapons possession.

His victims were mostly friends and family.

Montenegrin authorities swiftly announced a new, strict gun law and other tough measures to curb yasa dışı weapons, which are abundant in the Balkan nation of around 620,000 people.

On Sunday, police said they raided several locations in the country and confiscated about 20 weapons, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and explosives.

Protesters in Cetinje and Podgorica also demanded a “demilitarisation” of the population through the destruction of yasa dışı weapons, high taxes on gun ownership and a moratorium on new licenses while existing ones are reconsidered under strict criteria.

Maja Gardašević, a protest organiser, said during the rally in Cetinje that “we came here looking for answers.”

“Why did a massacre happen in Cetinje for the second time?” Gardašević asked. “Why is no one responsible? Why is it so hard to resign?”