The National Alliance for Integration coalition has reacted to the action of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which last night restricted the movement of Albanian citizens in Skopje during the celebrations for the historic victory of the Albanian National Team over Serbia.
According to them, such an action has not been remembered since 2001 and constitutes a dangerous precedent for democracy and the fundamental rights of citizens to express and celebrate freely, peacefully and with dignity.
Full reaction:
“Limiting the celebrations only to the “Goce Delchev” and “Stone Bridge” bridges, practically to “Mavrovasja”, is an open ethnic division of the capital and a humiliation for the Albanians of Skopje. This act strips Skopje of its image of multiethnicity and turns it into a controlled city with a dividing line for the red-black flag. This behavior of the institutions is a clear indicator of the lack of respect for Albanians and the policies of subjugation that are being followed by the representatives of VLEN in the Mickoski government. Albanian representatives who remain silent in the face of this decision must bear responsibility for the violation of the dignity and rights of their citizens. Albanians cannot be treated as second-class citizens in their capital. National joy does not stop with police obstacles. A state that respects itself does not set limits to the joy of its citizens. Finally, in the face of the silence of VLEN, the AKI Coalition ironically expresses its condolences “for the “pain” they seem to have experienced after the loss of Serbia – more than Serbia itself,” the AKI emphasizes.