Montenegro police tear gas opposition protesters

Montenegro police Saturday used tear gas to disperse several hundred opposition activists trying to protest outside parliament to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's left-wing government.

Hundreds of officers sealed off key government institutions in downtown Podgorica to stop protesters approaching the assembly, firing the tear gas when the demonstrators tried to break through their lines.

The activists later staged a protest walk nearby that ended peacefully, according to an AFP journalist.

Earlier on Saturday special police officers dispersed a few dozen supporters of the main opposition party who had been camping out in front of the assembly for almost three weeks seeking Djukanovic's resignation.

A total of 11 people were detained, including two MPs of the Democratic Front, while six officers were slightly injured, a police statement said.

The Balkan nation's main opposition party is seeking the installation of a transitional government charged with organising "genuine elections" which it says have not happened up to now.

Around 3,000 people gathered in Podgorica in late September to back the opposition call for Djukanovic to go. The 53-year-old has been at the centre of power in Montenegro since the early 1990s.

He won re-election as premier in 2012 elections, marking the third time he has held the post since independence in 2006, when the country broke up a loose union with neighbouring Serbia. Djukanovic was previously president of Montenegro between 1998 and 2002.

The next parliamentary polls in the country with a population of some 630,000 are due early next year.
Source: AFP