Ethnic Albanians stone bus in Macedonia

After two peaceful days in Macedonia a group of men from the ethnic Albanian village of Velesta stoned a bus near the south-western town of Struga, police say. The bus windows were broken but none of the passengers was injured. Ethnic Albanians stone bus in Macedonia The incident took place on Tuesday, while the bus was running on its regular line from Vevcani to Struga. This is the first serious incident in this part of Macedonia, after local ethnic Albanians grew indignant over one of the masks worn at the Vevcani Carnival late in January. The mask supposedly mocked Quran and Muslims. In the meantime the Football Federation of Macedonia has decided to cancel a Macedonian league match between Shkendija FC from Tetovo and Vardar FC from Skopje that was supposed to be played on Thursday. The Federation decided to cancel the match after its proposal to play on a neutral field was not accepted. Shkendija fan group dubbed “Balisti” have said in a released that the Federation did not ban the match due to security reasons and that the decision is aimed at destroying the club. Shkendija fans threatened on Facebook on Tuesday with incidents if the police did not release two of their members who were detained after attacking a police officer in downtown Tetovo. OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier paid a visit to Skoplje on Tuesday, and conferred with representatives of the authorities and opposition. He condemned the inter-ethnic incidents which took place in the previous few days, and urged resolution of problems through a transparent, impartial and thorough investigation, adding that if unresolved, these problems may have a negative impact on the common life in the country. “Of course we are worried over the series of incidents. We talked about that. I think that it is good that the fast reaction enabled efficient development of the investigation. However, it is also important to work in the long run,” Zannier said. Tanjug

Ethnic Albanians stone bus in Macedonia

The incident took place on Tuesday, while the bus was running on its regular line from Vevčani to Struga.

This is the first serious incident in this part of Macedonia, after local ethnic Albanians grew indignant over one of the masks worn at the Vevčani Carnival late in January. The mask supposedly mocked Quran and Muslims.

In the meantime the Football Federation of Macedonia has decided to cancel a Macedonian league match between Shkendija FC from Tetovo and Vardar FC from Skopje that was supposed to be played on Thursday. The Federation decided to cancel the match after its proposal to play on a neutral field was not accepted.

Shkendija fan group dubbed “Balisti” have said in a released that the Federation did not ban the match due to security reasons and that the decision is aimed at destroying the club.

Shkendija fans threatened on Facebook on Tuesday with incidents if the police did not release two of their members who were detained after attacking a police officer in downtown Tetovo.

OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier paid a visit to Skoplje on Tuesday, and conferred with representatives of the authorities and opposition.

He condemned the inter-ethnic incidents which took place in the previous few days, and urged resolution of problems through a transparent, impartial and thorough investigation, adding that if unresolved, these problems may have a negative impact on the common life in the country.

“Of course we are worried over the series of incidents. We talked about that. I think that it is good that the fast reaction enabled efficient development of the investigation. However, it is also important to work in the long run,” Zannier said.