Montenegro Protesters Keep Up Demands for Djukanovic’s Resignation

Opponents of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic protested again in the capital on Saturday, accusing the country's long-time leader of presiding over poverty, a loss of human rights and media freedoms and corruption.

Beside the resignation of President Djukanovic, who has ruled for almost 30 years, the protesters demand the resignation of the Supreme State Prosecutor, Ivica Stankovic, and the Chief Prosecutor for Organised Crime, Milivoje Katnic.

They accuse senior law officials of ignoring evidence and not prosecuting manifest corruption in the ranks of Djukanovic's inner circle.

The protesters marched by the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG, and demanded more professional and fair reporting.

Saturday's protest was the fifth in a row. It follows the revelation of footage and documents that appear to implicate top officials in obtaining suspicious funds for the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS.

A video clip from 2016 aired in January showed Dusko Knezevic, chairman of the Montenegro-based Atlas Group, appearing to hand the then mayor of Podgorica, Slavoljub Stijepovic, an envelope containing what Knezevic later said was $100,000, to fund a DPS election campaign.

Knezevic, who is believed now to be in London, has since told the media he had been providing secret cash to the DPS for the past 25 years.

Some saw this as the first concrete confirmation of something that has long been an open secret in Montenegro.

The DPS and Djukanovic have denied wrongdoing, insisting that all donations to the party are recorded in the party's financial records.

The authorities have since gone after Knezevic, until recently close to the ruling elite, who now faces charges of money laundering.

Saturday's protest came...