English
Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska held a press conference today in which she said that she was attacked while inspecting another construction site in Skopje’s Cair district. Arsovska claimed that the police allowed the attacker to issue threats at her, while Interior Minister Pance Toskovski responded that the man was detained promptly and that Arsovska is manipulating the public.
The incident comes after weeks of Arsovska’s campaign to blame the local authorities in Cair of illegally allowing the legalization of buildings and tolerating unlawful power and water hook-ups. During a number of televised “raids”, Arsovska was sometimes confronted by angry investors, and she claimed that she’s receiving threats over the phone and on social media channels. The Albanian VLEN party, which holds the mayoral position in Cair, accuses Arsovska of teaming up with their rivals in the DUI party and making false accusations or focusing exclusively on irregularities in Cair, in the hope that this will help DUI beat VLEN in the important mayoral race there in October.
During her press conference today, Arsovska claimed that during the half an hour long incident, the attacker berated her, hit her, and assaulted other members of her team. Arsovska said that she was accompanied by two police officers and municipal inspectors when the angry person, who she believes in the investor in the problematic development, began to shout at her. Arsovska added that the man eventually physically assaulted her, was making threats against her family and was making numerous phone calls. No clear footage from the incident has appeared yet, except from a grainy video from an awkward angle showing a kick toward a man – the social media accounts sharing the video claim that it shows Arsovska kicking the investor first. Another video shows the police arresting the alleged attacker.
Interior Minister Pance Toskovski confirmed that a man was detained after an incident involving the Mayor. “I express deep regret and condemn any attack, regardless who was the victim. I especially condemn an attack on a woman, who is an elected Mayor. But, let’s see if it maybe ends up that this is another well planned scenario to create a political circus, where the perpetrator will be made to look like a victim. I don’t know, but I’m receiving information in that direction, so I’m assuming, Toskovski said.
Toskovski said that if it is determined that the officers were passive during the incident, they will face a disciplinary procedure. The Minister said that in several recent previous instances when Arsovska alleged that she was threatened, the police reacted, but she wouldn’t help the officers get to the bottom of the case. Toskovski said that in one instance, Arsovska alleged that a police officer is threatening her over Facebook, but when the internal control unit called her for an interview to help identify the person issuing the threat, Arsovska refused to come. The Interior Ministry eventually began a disciplinary procedure against the officer based only on his Facebook comment.
Bulgarian member of the European Parliament Andrey Kovatchev, who is strongly focused on events in Macedonia, condemned the attack on Arsovska. During the 2021 election campaign, SDSM claimed that Arsovska has obtained a Bulgarian passport by declaring her Bulgarian national identity, and Kovatchev said that “this is another disturbing attack on a Bulgarian citizen” in Macedonia.
