DUI party leader Ali Ahmeti spoke at the opening of the huge monument to the National Liberation Army (NLA/UCK), the terrorist organization which he led and with which he sparked a brief civil war in Macedonia in 2001. The 20 meters tall pillar with a black Albanian eagle on top is built in the village of Slupcane, near Kumanovo – one of the battlegrounds in 2001.

UCK is part of the history of North Macedonia, and there can be no future for this country without its greatest achievement – the the Ohrid Treaty, the Prespa Treaty, and the country’s membership to NATO, Ahmeti said, adding that the controversial monument should unite the country.

For dramatic effect, even organizers sprayed plastic seats with fake blood and left carnations for the killed UCK members.