More than a thousand protesters took to the streets of the capital of Northern Macedonia on Monday evening and took part in a march under the slogan “For Responsibility and Safety.”
The reason for the discontent of Macedonians was the recent tragedy in the town of Kocani, where a fire in the nightclub Pulse killed 59 people, 155 were injured and burned to various degrees of severity, four are in critical condition.
Disgruntled Macedonians gathered for a rally the day after the country’s authorities declared a seven-day mourning period, implying a strict ban on mass events.
Despite the fact that the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Christian Mitskoski, from the first days of the rally declared “the mobilisation of the entire health care system to help the victims,” called to refrain from politicising the tragedy and promised to make information about the incident available to the public, the residents of the country want justice and immediate punishment for the perpetrators of the tragedy. Relatives of the victims have confirmed that they will not stop until all negligent officials are named.
“If the controlling authorities had performed their duties properly, the fire would not have happened,” said most of the protesters, who intend to march today through the central districts of Skopje, past the government and parliament buildings, so that “the authorities hear and see the anger of the people.”
The demonstrators said that the protests will not end quickly and will continue until the government makes concrete decisions.
