February 18 (SeeNews) - Thousands of people rallied in Podgorica on Saturday evening demanding the resignation of president Milo Djukanovic and prime minister Dusko Markovic over corruption allegations.
The rally was organised by citizens in the social networks after entrepreneur Dusko Knezevic, the owner of insolvent lender Atlas Banka, accused Djukanovic and his ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of corruption.
The protest action was the second one since February 2 held under the slogan "97,000 - resist", according to media reports.
In January, Knezevic circulated a video showing him handing 97,500 euro ($110,330) in an envelope to the mayor of Podgorica, Slavoljub Stijepovic, to finance the DPS election campaign in 2016.
Stijepovic was accused of money laundering earlier this month, while the ruling DPS and its president, Milo Djukanovic, admitted that Knezevic had donated money to the party. Montenegro's Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) found out that DPS had violated the law, and requested that the party return the money to the budget and pay a fine of 20,000 euro.
The protest was supported by opposition parties Democratic Front (DF), Democratic Alliance, True Montenegro, United Reform Action (URA), Democratic Montenegro and the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro (SNP).
In December, Montenegro's central bank placed Atlas Banka [MNG:ATBA] and Invest Banka [MNG:IBMN] under its temporary administration, citing their poor financial condition, after audit results showed that the capital of the two lenders did not meet the minimum risk requirements.
In an open letter to Montenegro's president Milo Djukanovic and prime minister Dusko Markovic in December, Knezevic said the country's inefficient justice system was at the root of the two banks' problems, and expressed concerns about the quality of the central bank's work.
Knezevic, for whom a national arrest warrant has been issued by the Montenegrin authorities, has said he is in London and would not return to Montenegro.
According to reports in Montenegrin media, a procedure is underway to issue a red international arrest warrant for Knezevic.
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