CIVIL – Center for Freedom requests from the competent institutions to act immediately and to find the attackers that beat up about a dozen citizens on the central square in Skopje and in the City Mall shopping center. Among the attacked were women and minors! The injured stated that they were attacked by members of the fan group “Komiti”.

 CIVIL calls for a rapid response from the MOI, which should immediately find the attackers in order for them to be appropriately punished through a court procedure, as this is the only way it can preserve the peace and security of the citizens. It must not allow escalation of the situation, increase in inter-ethnic fights and new vindictive incidents.

 Instead of having euphoria, citizens often have the feeling of fear and insecurity during sporting events in Macedonia. In addition to the incidents that take place in the stands, the riots often continue in the streets and, like this time, innocent citizens suffer.

 Therefore, each case of inaction or slowness by the police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, may create additional space for speculations that these and similar attacks and incidents are actually orchestrated by the government.

 The MOI, but also the parties of the ruling coalition, must answer the following questions:

 How is it that for the match “Vardar” vs “Shkupi”, which was declared as a high risk one and for which a ban was imposed for the fan group of “Shkupi”, leaders of the fan group “Sverceri’ were allowed to enter the north stand to provoke fans of the domestic team?

Is it true that a group of hundreds of fans from “Sverceri” was near the City Stadium and the Kale Hall and for what was it preparing for after the game?

Who and for what reason organized this?

In their statement to the public, the fan group of “Komiti” claims that “for years it has nothing to do with any political party in the country, nor does it support any political option.” However, it is a fact that members of this group have participated in a series of incidents outside the stands of the sports fields, in which innocent citizens were killed. Such was the incident in Nerezi when the local population was attacked, mostly ethnic Albanians. The “Komiti” participated in the interethnic fight at the Skopje Kale, when supposedly they were defending the church under construction, while the “Sverceri” did not allow this.

Part of the statement in which the “Komiti” blame the media for one-sidedness and partiality, perhaps should not be commented, if it wasn’t for the threat – not to test “their patience”!? Are the “Komiti” announcing new incidents?

CIVIL appeals to all citizens not to succumb to provocations and to allow the competent authorities to perform their job.

CIVIL requires from the political actors to not continue with an already seen strategy, to not manipulate young people, regardless of ethnicity and religious affiliation.