London, Sept. 5: Police have used tear gas on protesters in Montenegro attempting to block the enthronement of a new Serbian Orthodox Church archbishop.

Angry crowds threw stones at police and pulled down security fences around the monastery in the city of Cetinje.

Despite the protests the enthronement of Joanikije II went ahead on Sunday, local media reported. The event has exposed divisions in the country, which ended its union with Serbia in 2006.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is Montenegro's largest religious institution but has been in conflict with President Milo Djukanovic. He claims the Church is trying to undermine the country's independence and bring Montenegro back under Serbia's control.

The president had urged protesters to disrupt the inauguration of Joanikije II to the top clerical position, known as the Metropolitan of Montenegro and Archbishop of Cetinje.

On Saturday hundreds of protesters set up barricades to block access to Cetinje, while further protests broke out on Sunday.

"We're on the barricades because we're fed up with Belgrade denying our nation, and telling us what is our religious rights," protestor Andjela Ivanovic told Reuters news agency. "All religious objects [churches] built-in Montenegro belong to people here and to the state of Montenegro."

REUTERS

REUTERS

REUTERS

The president is still reeling from the defeat his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) suffered in last year's parliamentary election, which came after he pushed through legislation that would have allowed the state to claim Church property.

The move backfired when the Church campaigned for the opposition, pushing the DPS from power for the first time in three decades.

Montenegrins who identify as ethnic Serbs account for about a third of the country's 630,000 population, according to the latest census data. The majority of Montenegrins are members of the Serbian Orthodox Church.