SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said in an interview for Telma TV that political centre of power which attempted to cause inter-ethnic tensions through the incident around the church in the village of Galate, Municipality of Vrapciste.
“According to what I saw from the videos recorded around the church in Galate and in front of the Municipality of Vrapciste, we can see that political vultures are attempting to cause inter-ethnic tensions.
Fortunately, they were unsuccessful, because the Interior Ministry did and is doing everything to completely prevent such attempts. If this is not proof that what we have been saying for the past period, from the point of view that there will be attempts in this time period, in the direction of destabilisation, then I don’t know what would be,” Toskovski said.
PM Mickoski also commented the events in Galate, calling upon politicians to not play the card of ethnicity or religion to spark inter-ethnic conflicts.
“The criminals that were winning political points on the backs of the people in the past years are once again playing on the card of ethnic and religious feelings. The local bishop and many of the citizens of Galate already distanced themselves from the incidents and the unacceptable behaviour,” Mickoski said.
Vrapciste Mayor Isen Shabani qualified the incident as an act of terrorism, claiming that the people who got into the object of the local self-government were not citizens of the municipality at all, and called upon all people to remain calm and to not resort to aggression.
On Tuesday, the police prevented the reconstruction of the church in Galate upon a report from the Municipality of Vrapciste that a legal permit is lacking, provoking some of the citizens of Galate to stage a protest and demand a meeting with the Mayor of Vrapciste, which resulted with two arrests.
