Leaked video shows group of Serbian and local activists trying to gain political profit from the Kocani nightclub disaster

After several largely anonymous groups announced protests, a video of a conference call shed new light on the attempts to use Kocani nightclub disaster for political profit.

A group calling itself the Independent Student Union announced a protest for tomorrow at the main university campus in Skopje, that was believed to be an attempt to set up a blockade similar to the ones that have been in place in Serbia for the past months. Today, the group announced that it is calling off its protest since they are “bitter and disappointed from the political interference in our honest and sincere intentions”.

Meanwhile, a zoon conference call was leaked. It shows Levica party activists led by Aerodrom municipal council member Kiril Mitanovski meeting with Serbian protest organizer Stasa Cvetkovic. In the often callous conversation, the would-be activists are discussing how to best latch on to the genuine grief felt by Macedonian citizens after the death of dozens of youngsters in the nightclub fire in Kocani, and to use it for their own political gain. Mitanovski is believed to be behind a hastily created Instagram account called “Who is next”, which originally tried to organize protests around the vehicular homicide death of young Frosina Kulakova in Skopje, but is now focusing on the Kocani disaster. During the call, the group can be heard discussing what to delete from their social media accounts to hide their link to the protests, what demands to come up with first and when to present their political demands, as well as lashing out against the church which, they fear, can divert public grief away from aggressive protests.

The Serbian activist Cvetkovic can be heard telling her colleagues in Macedonia to shy away from calls for resignations of government ministers, since that could spark early elections. “Make sure that the Prime Minister doesn’t resign. Elections will be of no use to you. Your goal is to create civic disobedience through the unions. You need time, you need to begin blockades”, Cvetkovic tells the other activists.