BELGRADE, Serbia — Thousands of people protested in Serbia’s capital Wednesday against the alleged suppression of religious and other rights of Serb minorities in neighboring countries, answering a call to action by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Orthodox priests led a procession through downtown Belgrade to the landmark St. Sava Temple, one of the world’s largest Orthodox churches, to pray about the “suffering” of Serbs living in Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and elsewhere in the Balkans.
The demonstration featured religious iconography, including Serbian church flags and paintings. “It’s Time For God’s Justice,” one banner read.
The focus of the protest was a religion rights law adopted last month by the Parliament of Montenegro. Serbian nationalists claim the law, which took effect Wednesday, will lead to the impounding of Serbian church property in Montenegro. Montenegrin officials have repeatedly denied the claim.
The Montenegrin law says all religious communities need to produce evidence of ownership of their churches from before 1918, when Montenegro joined a Serb-led Balkan kingdom and lost its independence and when Montenegro’s Orthodox Church was abolished.
