Huge crowds joined a major anti-government rally in Skopje, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski amid a political crisis sparked by a mass surveillance scandal.
BIRN
Skopje| People carried placards calling for Gruevski to step down, while some waved Macedonian and Albanian flags. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
Up to 40,000 people gathered in front of the government building in Skopje on Sunday at a major rally against Gruevski's administration, which they accuse of widespread corruption, undemocratic practices and large-scale illegal surveillance.
"I came here hoping that something will change, that we will manage to return democracy to Macedonia. I hope it is not too late for that,” one protester, Julija Krsteva, told BIRN.
The main demand of the protesters is for the government to resign over the illegal surveillance scandal revealed by the opposition.
The protesters seek the formation of a transitional government that will prepare the country for what they call free and fair elections.
“This government should finally leave,” another protestor, Jana Kocevska, told BIRN.
People carried placards calling for Gruevski to step down, while some waved Macedonian and Albanian flags – an attempt to show that ethnic Macedonians and the country’s minority Albanian population are united in their demand for change.
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| Protesters holding a Macedonian flags and banners reading "Resignation" and "Goodbye Nikola" protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski as they march towards the offices of Macedonia's conservative government, in capital Skopje. | Photo by BIRN |
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“This government should finally leave,” another protestor, Jana Kocevska, told BIRN. | Photo by BIRN
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The rally was organised by opposition parties and backed by many non-government organisations and rights movements. Macedonian students who started gathering around noon in front of Skopje’s university also joined the rally.
Along with Zoran Zaev, the leader of opposition Social Democrats, the former Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Knut Fleckenstein from the European Parliament are also expected to address the crowd.
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| Different nationalities in Macedonia protest against Gruevski's government. | Photo by BIRN |
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| Banner "Goodbye, Nikola." | Photo by BIRN |
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| Protests in front of Macedonian government building. | Photo by BIRN |
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| Girl holds a banner taht writes "Resignation." | Photo by BIRN |
Gatherings in support of the protesting Macedonians are also being staged in Amsterdam, London, Sofia and Sarajevo.
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| Gatherings in support of the protesting Macedonians are also being staged in Amsterdam. |
Ahead of the protest, Zaev told the media it will be "the biggest ever protest rally in Macedonia" with a "civil" and a "multi-ethnic" dimension. For that reason, the opposition said, party banners will be left at home.
"We will not go home until Gruevski resigns", Zaev said, adding that after the planned mass rally, a non-stop sit-in protest will maintain the pressure on Gruevski and his government.
"Some 4,600 activists have decided on their own initiative to sleep out in front of the government building and to continue the protest. Knowing that we are not the only organizers of this protest, we have decided to remain until the end, until Gruevski resigns," he continued.
Meanwhile the informal movement, "I protest", which has been organizing daily protests in Skopje, on Friday decided to join the big rally while continuing its own daily gatherings each afternoon in order to maintain the authenticity of the movement.
Student activists have also decided to join the rally. They will meet at the university campus and head towards the government building from there.
As other associations, of teachers, journalists, workers unions, NGOs and other political movements, said they would also join the protest, under the motto "We Are Coming", safety remains a top concern.
A smaller protest in Skopje on May 5 saw the police chasing protesters in the streets after a small group of people - whom the peaceful protesters called provocateurs - attacked the police earlier.
The Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights said that more than 40 protesters, including students, have since been arrested - and that 14 are still in detention.
The committee accused the police of detaining many peaceful people in order to scare others from attending anti-government protests.
Amid mounting protests in the capital, the ruling VMRO DPMNE party has scheduled its own counter-rally for Monday, increasing fears of street violence.
Addressing safety concerns, Zaev said: "We will do everything in our power to make the protest pass off peacefully. Our young activists will form a barrier between the police and the protestors. Activists are also being instructed to react and take photos of even the slightest signs of provocateurs."
The European Parliament is informally monitoring the protests with the aid of the former Rapporteur on Macedonia Richard Howitt. Several other MEPs from Germany, Sweden and Finland are also expected to attend the rally and its follow-up as observers.
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Photo by: AP / Boris Grdanoski
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On Thursday and Friday, the OSCE special representative for the Western Balkans, Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann, the OSCE high commissioner on minorities, Astrid Thors, and Germany's diplomat in charge of Southeast Europe, Ernst Reichel, called for restraint on all sides.
On Wednesday, leaders of all main political parties, with the mediation of the US ambassador Jess Baily and EU ambassador Aivo Orav, signed a declaration on non-violence and agreed to meet again on Monday.
Since February, the opposition has been releasing taped conversations that appear to show that the government has been involved in a wide range of misdeeds and political tricks.
They include election fraud, abuse of the justice system and covering up the murder of a young man by a police officer.
As anger grows against Gruevski, who has held power since 2006, he has insisted that the opposition's tapes of official conversations were "created" by unnamed "foreign services" and given to the opposition in order to destabilize the country.
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Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Grievski | Photo by: AP / Boris Grdanoski
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The latests protests follow the recent two-day shootout between police and gunmen in the northern town of Kumanovo. Eight police officers died and 37 were injured in the fighting.
The crisis briefly interrupted the anti-government protests and diverted attention from the wiretapping scandal facing Gruevski.
But the timing of the events in Kumanovo prompted many opponents of the government, including Social Democrat leader Zaev, to accuse the authorities of attempting to distract the public from the crisis by orchestrating ethnic unrest.
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| Protests in front of Macedonian government building. | Photo by BIRN |
Two days after calling the police action in Kumanovo a success, Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska, the chief of the secret police, Saso Mijalkov, as well as the Transportation Minister, Mile Janakieski - all heavily implicated in the illegal surveillance scandal - resigned.
Government opponents say that the resignations are too little, too late, and that only the resignation of the entire government will bring an end to the protests.
Prime Minister Gruevski, Saturday, told Sitel TV that he would not step down.
He said he believed that the protests would not be violent but that if there was unrest, the police would "respond accordingly".
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Zoran Zaev arrives at the protest.| Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski |
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| Thousands gather at protest against Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. | Photo by Robert Atanasovski http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/macedonia-braces-for-big-anti-government-protest#.VVibcn-nNAo.twitter |
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