Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic signed bitterly contentious legislation on religion and faith into law on Dec. 28, one day after the bill was passed in a raucous parliamentary session in which many opposition lawmakers were forcibly removed from the chamber.
RFE/RL: Montenegrin president signs controversial law on religion
Serbian Orthodox Church clergy and believers stand in front of the parliament, during a protest against the controversial law on religious freedom in Podgorica on Dec. 24, 2019. More than a dozen Montenegrin opposition MPs were detained in parliament on Dec. 27, 2019, after they violently protested a controversial law on religious freedom, which was passed after the group was taken away. The law has raised tensions in recent weeks between the government and a pro-Serb opposition which is close to the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), Montenegro's main religious body. Under the legislation, religious communities need to prove ownership of property from before 1918, when Montenegro lost its independence, in order to keep it.
