Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije accused top officials of the Montenegrin Interior Ministry (MUP), including Minister Ivan Brajovic, of using “violence against the clergy of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.”

A few days ago, the Montenegrin police conducted checks of monasteries and churches of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral and arrested and detained five priests who had no residence permit.

“The attitude toward one part of our (Serbian Orthodox Church - SPC) priests and monks and threats that they will not be allowed to stay (in Montenegro) started at the time Brajovic became Minister (of the Interior),” said Amfilohije.

Apart from Brajovic, the metropolitan also criticized Head of the MUP Department for Administrative Affairs Ljiljana Dapcevic, saying that the violence against the SPC clergy was “unprecedented in the history of Montenegro.”

In a Sunday interview for the Podgorica-based dialy Vijesti, given in Budva, a coastal town in Montenegro, the Metropolitan said that the police literally charged into the church buildings threatening priests and monks to be evicted.

“There are monks and priests from Russia, Syria, Bosnia, and Serbia among them. This is incomprehensible and unacceptable,” said the metropolitan.