Podgorica, (MINA) – The Police Administration, by initiating misdemeanor proceedings against individuals who protested outside the Villa Gorica over the awarding of the Thirteenth of July Award, is sending a message that threatens the freedom of assembly, discourages civic activism and undermines the foundations of the democratic order, according to the Center for Civic Education (CGO).

This NGO expressed concern over the attempt to intimidate the citizens who attended the protest, by initiating misdemeanor proceedings five months after the event.

The CGO stated that, instead of assessing the proportionality of the use of force by the police and the use of pepper spray during the protest, the authorities are not pressuring the citizens who had peacefully protested.

The CGO said that the double standards used in this and other cases is a sign of concern when it comes to incidents that genuinely disturbed public order and spread hatred.

They pointed out that there has been no prosecution of the individuals who disrupted the screening of the film Stork in the Albanian language at the Dzada Film Festival, nor of those who openly and loudly spread hate speech and called for violence against Turkish citizens after the incident in Zabjelo.