Thousands of Montenegrins rallied on January 5, demanding the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister in charge of security Aleksa Becic and Minister of Interior Danilo Saranovic, following a shooting in the city of Cetinje that took the lives of 12 people on January 1.

45-year-old Aco Martinovic began his assault by killing a bar owner, the owner’s children and members of his own family. Subsequently he was cornered by police and died after shooting himself in the head.

The informal group of students called Kamo Sutra? (Where Tomorrow?) organised the rally, which began with a 12-minute silence in front of the interior ministry to pay respect to the victims of the shooting, daily Vijesti reported on January 6.

The protesters also demanded the demilitarisation of society, confiscation and destruction of all illegal and hidden weapons.

"Revision of all assigned permits for the possession of weapons through police verification of persons who own weapons and through serious, and not only formal, psychiatric and other medical and psychological examinations on an annual basis," Kamo Sutra said in a letter to local media ahead of the protest.

It also demanded that the authorities stop issuing weapons permits to citizens.

The Democratic Montenegro party, whose members the two ministers are, accused former long-serving leader of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, of being the real organiser of the protests.

"The protests are organised by Milo Djukanovic, the man who deceived the entire Montenegrin public by claiming that during the press conference by the police directorate [on January 1] the murderer continued killing people in Cetinje, and the same one who claimed six months ago that he was threatened with murder," the party said in a statement.

The party also claimed that behind the request for the resignation of the two ministers “there is not an informal group of students Kamo Sutra? but Milo Djukanovic himself, together with his criminal clans”.

"With shameless statements and announcements of the party, Democratic Montenegro has proven that it does not care about the young people of this country, if they do not belong to their party," Kamo Sutra said in a response published by local media.

"These are serious accusations that label us criminals, so we ask them to offer evidence for these claims and to file criminal charges based on them. Otherwise, they should bear political and legal responsibility for the untruths they have presented and thus endangered each of us individually," it added.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to draft a bill limiting the use of weapons and strengthening gun control following a session of the security council led by Prime Minister Milojko Spajic the day after the shooting.