FYROM: Anti-Government Riots in Skopje

Today’s protest in front of government building in Skopje, which gathered citizens dissatisfied with government’s attempt to cover-up the brutal murder of Martin Neškovski, a youth who was killed in 2011 by PM Nikola Gruevski’s bodyguard, turned violent.

The mass of several thousand citizens of FYROM’s capital city stormed the perimeter of the…government building late afternoon local time. According to reports, a commanding police officer voluntary joined the protest by lifting barricades surrounding the building (which are put there on permanent basis for years). Although some minor damage was inflicted to the building, the protests could have been qualified as peaceful, until an overwhelming force of anti-riot police intervened later in the evening.

The intervention resulted in violence, after initial attempt by women protesters to make a human shield to protect mostly young protesters. They were, according to the reporters, beaten badly. The police managed to break the mass of citizens into smaller groups, which, as of late evening, are concentrated in several pockets of urban area around the government.

These protests came after a press-conference of the main opposition party, the Social-Democratic Union (SDSM) which presented phone recording in which politicians (primarily Minister of police, Gordana Jankulovska) organized a cover-up of the brutal murder of Martin Neškovski during a public celebration of VMRO-DPMNE, with a great nonchalance and even humor in their publicly revealed conversations.