Saturday, May 12, 2012

Counter-protest held in Macedonia

SKOPJE -- Around 200, mostly young, Macedonians held a counter-protest in Skopje on Saturday as a reaction to Friday’s demonstrations of ethnic Albanians.
A view of Skopje (Tanjug, file)
A view of Skopje (Tanjug, file)
The ethnic Albanians organized the protest over the arrest of radical Islamists suspected of a quintuple murder near Skopje in April in the Monster Operation.
The protesters on Saturday condemned the murder of five Macedonians near Skopje and called on the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Even though the organizers announced that the protest would be peaceful, the protesters threw bottles and rocks at the police.

The protesters carried banners saying “You belong in Auschwitz”, “Srebrenica II”, “Death to Shiptars”, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) has reported.

Strong police forces were deployed in front of the Macedonian government in downtown Skopje and the protesters threw rocks and bottles at them. An RTS cameraman was attacked but he was not injured.

A TV cameraman and a police officer were injured in the Albanian protest on Friday and windows on the Macedonian government headquarters and on a municipal building were broken when the protesters started throwing rocks.

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