Large protests are taking place in downtown Skopje today, with two groups blocking traffic in front of the Government and the Foreign Ministry buildings over several hours. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party is organizing protests in revolt after Prime Minister Zoran Zaev announced that he will surrender to all demands raised by Bulgaria.

We have no idea to what extent is Zaev negotiating away. Citizens are being informed about the course of talks through a foreign news outlet. That is why we are before the Government and the Foreign Ministry today. These are the institutions which must provide the answer. Zaev is the merchant of everything that belongs to Macedonia, said VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Vladimir Misajlovski.

The opposition has been protesting for days, after Zaev’s scandalous interview with the Bulgarian BGNES news agency. “We will remain in the streets, in all the cities and villages, until Zaev’s madness ends. Zaev and his Government have no red lines”, Misajlovski said.

VMRO Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski also addressed the protesters. “This blockade is a message to those behind us, sitting in that building, led by Zoran Zaev, that this is the moment when they need to resign and stop humiliating Macedonia. Resign today, before it is too late. Resign and stop trading away the Macedonian history, national identity, the Macedonian language and culture”, Nikoloski said.

Former Mayor of Skopje Koce Trajanovski said that the protests have the support of all ethnic groups in the country and that the Government must agree to formulating common red lines, together with the opposition, that will protect Macedonian national interests.

Our red lines are that Macedonia has a history spanning centuries and millennia. That Macedonia and the Macedonians do not originate from the Bulgarians. That the Macedonian language is not a dialect of the Bulgarian language. That there are Macedonian minorities in all neighboring countries, including Bulgaria and their rights need to be protected, Trajanovski said.