Thousands protest in Montenegro to demand ouster of top security officials over mass shooting

PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Several thousand people rallied in Montenegro on Sunday demanding the resignations of top security officials over the shooting earlier this week that left 12 people dead, including two children.

Chanting “Resignations” and “Killers," protesters outside the Interior Ministry building in the capital, Podgorica, demanded that Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović and Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defense Aleksa Bečić step down.

Milo Perović, from a student-led group that helped organize the rally, told the crowd that innocent people died during their watch.

“You failed to protect us, so resign!” Perović said.

Hours earlier, hundreds of people held 12 minutes of silence for the 12 victims at a rally in Cetinje, Montenegro's historic capital where the shooting took place on Wednesday. It was the second such massacre in the town in less than three years.

Many residents of Cetinje and other Montenegrins believe that police mishandled the situation and haven't done enough to boost security since the first massacre, which happened in August 2022.

Wednesday's shooting resulted from a bar brawl. A 45-year-old local man went home to get his gun before returning to the bar and opening fire. He killed four people there and eight more at various other locations before killing himself.

The massacre fueled concerns about the level of violence in Montenegrin society, which is politically divided. It also raised questions about the readiness of state institutions to tackle the problems, including gun ownership.

Police have said the shooting was impossible to predict and prevent, though the gunman, identified as Aco Martinović, had been convicted for violent behavior and illegal weapons possession. His victims were mostly friends and family.

Montenegrin authorities swiftly announced a new, strict gun law and other tough measures to curb illegal weapons, which are abundant in the Balkan nation of around 620,000 people.

On Sunday, police said they raided several locations in the country and confiscated about 20 weapons, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and explosives.

Protesters in Cetinje and Podgorica also demanded a “demilitarization” of the population through the destruction of illegal weapons, high taxes on gun ownership and a moratorium on new licenses while existing ones are reconsidered under strict criteria.

The attacker in 2022 in Cetinje gunned down 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.

Maja Gardašević, a protest organizer, said during the rally in Cetinje that “we came here looking for answers” to several questions.

“Why did a massacre happen in Cetinje for the second time?” Gardašević asked. “ Why is no one responsible? Why is it so hard to resign?”

Jovana Gec contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.

Several thousand people participated in a protest demanding the resignations of top security officials over a shooting earlier this week in Cetinje outside of Podogrica, Montenegro, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Several thousand people participated in a protest demanding the resignations of top security officials over a shooting earlier this week in Cetinje, outside of Podogrica, Montenegro, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Several thousand people participated in a protest demanding the resignations of top security officials over a shooting earlier this week in Cetinje, outside of Podogrica, Montenegro, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

Children light torches during a protest demanding the resignations of top security officials over a shooting earlier this week in Cetinje, outside of Podogrica, Montenegro, Sunday, Jan 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)

As U.S. lawmakers debate issues around health care for transgender youth, it’s been difficult to determine the number of young people receiving gender-affirming medications, leaving room for exaggerated and false claims.

Now, a medical journal has published the most reliable estimate yet and the numbers are low, reflecting more clearly on medical practices now being weighed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received gender-affirming medications — puberty blockers or hormones — during a recent five-year period, according to the study released Monday.

At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states face lawsuits. A decision by the Supreme Court in a Tennessee case is expected later this year. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to roll back protections for transgender people.

“We are not seeing inappropriate use of this sort of care," said lead author Landon Hughes, a Harvard University public health researcher. “And it’s certainly not happening at the rate at which people often think it is.”

The researchers analyzed a large insurance claims database covering more than 5 million patients ages 8 to 17.

Only 926 adolescents with a gender-related diagnosis received puberty blockers from 2018 through 2022. During that time, 1,927 received hormones. The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, suggest that fewer than 0.1% of all youth in the database received these medications.

The researchers found that no patients under age 12 were prescribed hormones, an indication that doctors are appropriately cautious about when to start such treatments, Hughes said.

“I hope that our paper cools heads on this issue and ensures that the public is getting a true sense of the number of people who are accessing this care,” he said.

The database included insurance plans in all 50 states, but did not include youth covered by Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.

The study did not look at surgeries among transgender adolescents. Other researchers have found those procedures are extremely rare among young people.

Not all transgender youth proceed with medical treatments, said Dr. Scott Leibowitz, co-lead author of the adolescent standards of care for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, a leading transgender health group.

Transgender adolescents “come to understand their gender at different times and in different ways,” he said, noting that the best care should include experts in adolescent identity development who can work with families to help figure out what’s appropriate for each young person.

Leibowitz, who has worked in gender clinics in several U.S. cities, said the study “adds to the growing evidence base about best practices when serving transgender and gender diverse youth.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - A vial of testosterone is prepared for injection at a home in Florida, on May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)