Imagine a country where people once fought for justice by roasting a pig on a spit in the street, and today the same government passes a law banning peaceful road blockades – the last remaining form of protest! Welcome to Montenegro in 2024, where the government not only doesn’t hear you, but doesn’t even see you! A group of ruling majority MPs proposes a law that not only bans protests on roads but fines ordinary citizens 10 euros if they dare to raise their voice where someone might finally notice – on a bridge or a road.
The paradox is huge: the very people who once, as opposition, blocked roads and held barricades are now in power and want to charge every form of protest as if it’s a penalty for democracy. Even worse, the bill’s proposers haven’t even bothered to bring it to parliament for discussion! The head of the DPS parliamentary club, Andrija Nikolić, called the proposal unconstitutional and shameful, questioning what the parliament is even doing if the prime minister hasn’t come for four months and no one dares to say what they propose.
This law is not an attempt to regulate public gatherings but a law of silence and banning rebellion. Institutionalizing fear in a country where the only legal protest might now be behind a keyboard. Montenegro, remember: freedom, when it leaves, does not leave quietly. It is lost while everyone looks the other way.
If you think this is far-fetched, think again. While the government uses institutions to silence the voice of the people, ordinary citizens are left without the last tool to fight injustice and irresponsibility. A law that should protect citizens now punishes them for expressing dissatisfaction. Will we allow our streets to become silent and empty while the powerful play with our rights? Or will we remember that justice once lived on the streets and return to where we belong?
What do you think? Is this the end of freedom or just another step towards dictatorship? Write, laugh, rage – but don’t be silent! Because silence is exactly what the government wants.
