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Montenegro’s parliament adopted the disputed law on freedom of confession at a tense late night session during which a group of opposition MPs were arrested after causing an incident.
Parliament was in session on Thursday but was interrupted a little after midnight when Democratic Front MPs tried to bring it to an end after their amendments to the law were rejected by the ruling majority. The media reported that some kind of smoke bomb was thrown into the hall and that the opposition MPs tried to remove microphones from the speaker's desk.
The law was adopted when the session resumed after the Democratic Front MPs who were arrested and taken to the central police station in the Montenegrin capital.
The law was passed with the votes of 45 MPs. The Montenegrin parliament has 81 seats.
Protest gatherings have been organized over the past few weeks against the adopting of the law with people coming in from Serbia to attend. The Montenegrin border police did not allow some of them across the border.
The law has been disputed by the Serbian Orthodox Church and its followers, including the Serb minority in Montenegro, amid claims that it would seize all monasteries, shrines and church property in the former Yugoslav republic. The law says that ownership of buildings and properties used by religious communities built before December 1, 1918 will revert to the state if there is no proof that the religious communities own them. The law also says that religious communities will have to pay taxes.
The senior Serbian Orthodox Church priest in Montenegro, Bishop Amfilohije called MPs not to pass the law and the head of the church Patriarch Irinej gave Democratic Front leaders his blessing to do what they can to prevent its adoption.
Bishop Irinej (who is from Montenegro) has been an outspoken critic of the authorities in Podgorica for years.
Montenegro was an independent state before being incorporated into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) in 1918.
