Macedonian protesters call on premier to step down

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Macedonian capital, Skopje, urging the government to resign over a wiretapping scandal.  

Over 20,000 protesters, including members of Macedonia's ethnic Albanian minority, gathered outside the prime minister's office in central Skopje on Sunday.  

Macedonian opposition leader, Zoran Zaev, vowed to continue street protests until the conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski quits.

"We will stay here in front of the government. Nikola Gruevski must resign. Until he goes we are not going to leave either," the leader of main opposition party - Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) - told the crowd.

The protesters chanted anti-government slogans and demanded the resignation of Gruevski.  

"The time has come to show that we no longer want to live in a state led by Gruevski," SDSM said in a statement.  

SDSM and its leader have announced that more than 4,000 volunteer protesters would remain in front of the government building until the prime minister and his cabinet stand down.  

Meanwhile, a large number of police forces in riot gear have been deployed near the protest site to prevent violence.  

The latest demonstration follows the release of a massive cache of wiretapped conversations by Zaev who says the conversations were leaked to him by some elements in the domestic intelligence service.  

The conversations purport to reveal corruption at the highest levels of government.  

Zaev has also accused the government of attempting to cover up the killing of a protester by police forces back in 2011.

Gruevski recently said that he is not stepping down despite calls by the opposition for his resignation and in spite of political tensions in the country. 

Meanwhile, the premier’s ruling VMRO-DPMNE party is to hold its own demonstration in support of the government on May 18. 

The Balkan country of Macedonia, which has seen a number of clashes in recent weeks, is currently grappling with its deepest political crisis since it gained independence from former Yugoslavia in 1991. 

In a span of two days on May 9 and 10, eight Macedonian police officers were killed during clashes with an armed group in northern Macedonia’s Diva Naselba neighborhood in the town of Kumanovo. Fourteen gunmen were also killed. 

About 30 alleged gunmen from neighboring Kosovo have already been arrested and charged with terror offenses in connection with the Kumanovo incident, which has drawn Russia’s reaction. 

The deadly incident in Kumanovo came just weeks after a police watchtower on Macedonia’s northern border with Kosovo was attacked by 40 gunmen. 

The government and opposition have been accusing one another of attempting to destabilize the country.

JR/KA/SS

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