CETINJE, Montenegro (Reuters) – Thousands of Montenegrins gathered in the town of Cetinje on Sunday to commemorate the 12 victims of a mass shooting last week, with many accusing police of not having done enough to stop the gunman’s rampage.
In a crime that shocked the small Balkan nation, 45-year-old Aco Martinovic went on a shooting spree that lasted for hours on Wednesday. When he was finally cornered by police, he turned his gun on himself, and later died of his injuries.
People lit candles on Sunday in front of a church in Cetinje close to where the shooting began and stood in silence for 12 minutes in honour of the victims.
“We came here to demand answers as to why there was no timely reaction and who will take the responsibility for that,” Maja Gardasevic told Reuters.
Many Montenegrins are angry over what they see as slow reform of an understaffed and under-resourced police force and bureaucratic and political wrangling within the government.
It was the second mass shooting in less than three years in Cetinje, which lies some 38 km (24 miles) west of the capital, Podgorica. In August 2022, a gunman killed 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead.
“This is simply my protest against the disorganisation of the police. They learned nothing after the first tragedy,” said local resident Aleksandra Jablan.
In the capital on Friday, protesters demanded the resignation of top officials, including Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic and the head of the police.
Montenegro, a small Adriatic republic of 633,000 people, has a deeply rooted gun culture.
Like other Western Balkan countries – Serbia, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia – Montenegro is awash with illegal weapons, mostly from the bloody wars of the 1990s.
(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Helen Popper)
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