Another day, another example of lawlessness shared on the social media. After a number of brazenly dangerous driving stunts, and the incident where a man was opening fire in the air in a densely populated part of Skopje – all shared on TikTok and other social networks for clicks – now an incident shows a man refuse to even talk to a police officer.

The incident occurred on the Macedonia Square in downtown Skopje, where a small Christmas market has drawn visitors, many of whom refuse to wear masks. Police is sent there to try to control the situation. But in one encounter, a man, clearly Albanian by the accent, tells the officer that he won’t even talk to him. “I understand Macedonian but I don’t want to speak in Macedonian”, the man brushes the officer off.

The law on the use of languages, pushed through by the Zaev regime, allows Albanians to demand that Albanian language is used by state institutions, but the law did not provide that Albanians can just refuse to interact with officers, and potentially avoid being fined, by feigning that they don’t speak Macedonian.